Sitting In Place

Occasionally, life presents you with something rather desirable. Sometimes, life, the middle-aged meddler, will present you with something else at the same time that is perhaps more desirable, though less obtainable. (Oh! I love the Pumpkins. 1979, sing to me) The problem with this scenario is that usually we have to choose one or the other. An example would be, "Do you want to very probably go to Mexico, or maybe go to Spain?" See what I mean? One is easier to get, but not as cool. The other, rarer and cooler. And that is enough background for today's question:

How often do we pass up something good in hopes of something better?

Considering my current position in life it is not surprising that I would apply this line of thinking to marriage and its affiliates. There are many wonderful women in the world. Occasionally, they deign to date us mediocre men. Most relationships fail, either by choice or simply due to their explosive nature. Either way, most relationships end before the babies start happening. And I feel like some of these endings can be traced back to one or the other passing up the "something good" that they have in hand to hopefully be available for "something better" they hope is at the next stop. Why? Trace this back to another closely held belief of mine.

People could benefit from being wherever they are. All too often I have seen friends focus on changes just over the horizon as the beginning of their happiness. What they never realize is that no matter how far you move, the horizon is always in front of you. You will never actually reach it, and therefore will never reach your happiness. The happiest people are those who learn to enjoy their current place in life. Tying this back in to the above thoughts, there would be many happy marriages if people could simply see the beautiful that they have. Please see this as very different that settling. People who settle still wish for what's over the horizon. People who learn to be happy are truly happy with what they have, because all they see is the good.

And, as often, I would like to follow up my thoughts with a call to action. Let us all learn to be where we are. Let us learn to be with whoever we are with. Let us choose to be happy.

Beautiful Adventure

Lately, I have found myself wanting more out of life. I am not happy with climbing three times a week and spending the rest of my time essentially immobile, in one activity or another. Sure, I go on the occasional weekly bike ride. Sure, I go slacklining monthly. But I'm just no happy with the way things are. I have met quite a number of people lately who are well traveled and well experienced. They have lived in Italy, or backpacked through Peru, or lived in a van in Jackson for a year. The more people I meet, the more I am able to identify a pattern: the coolest people I know are the people who have had the most varied experiences.

And this causes me to wonder about my own life. I have had very few experiences. I have been to Alaska for a summer. That pretty much covers it. I don't even make weekend climbing trips. I am in the epicenter of great western climbing trips, and I have made one. That is pathetic. Add to this the fact that I am a recreation major, and you begin to wonder what the bugger is wrong with me. Why am I not experiencing life and the world?

In the past, I always attributed this to the fact that I am just not a traveler. But maybe I was just thinking about it wrong. To me, traveling always just seemed like a waste of time. You go somewhere, you look at stuff, you spend money, you come home. But maybe there is a different way to go about it. Maybe traveling is about absorbing more of the world. Maybe it is about experiencing people and places and using those experiences to grow and improve yourself. And maybe I should try it?

All of these thoughts are brought on by the absolutely incredible people I have met. I look at these people and wonder how they can be so amazing. And I have realized that they all have the same thing in common. They have actually done some really cool things. So, in my quest to improve myself, it would seem that I need to put some really cool things in the queue. Maybe I will go hike the appalachain trail. Maybe I will live in England after I graduate. Maybe I will just start weekly trips to adventure on my weekends. Whatever it is, something has to happen. I have to start experiencing the world that God has created for me.

So, Yes, I would like to go with you to Zion. Yes, I would like to go boating. Yes, I would like to go live in Italy with you. And Yes, you are invited this weekend to go to Goblin Valley.

SufjanWineFrapp

Much of music today is the same. It is remarkably hard to come up with a song that won't cause someone to say, "Hey...that sounds a lot like Martyr Killer." (I made that band up, I think. Although metal-heads everywhere are already forming that band). For example, this guy sounds pretty much exactly like this guy. But I have decided that this is okay. If you like it from one source, why wouldn't you enjoy it from another source?

I have come across music snobs on a fairly regular basis. In fact, most of my life I was a music snob. In fact, the angriest I have ever been was the first time I heard this song. Since that moment I have come to grips with my music snobbery. I have learned to enjoy slow by Kylie Minogue (forgive the video) and also enjoy Golfrapp without feeling like its just a cheap Kylie frap-off. (I am so dang funny).

This whole round of thoughts comes from a couple conversations with my roomie Steven. This week I had the chance to record with The Brocks, a band here in Provo. It was quite a bit of fun, and the band is actually really good. I quite like them. But when I showed Steven, all he could say was, "It sounds like Dr Dog." It irritated me when he said it, although I didn't know why at the time. I now realize why that bugs me. When people are totally focused on what something sounds like, instead of what they are listening to, they are totally disregarding the effort the musicians put into their music. I feel like more concern should be given to listening to a song or artist for their own good qualities. Enjoy what you're listening to, not what you could listen to. That is my rant. Enjoy.