I like movement. Specifically, I like being in motion – biking, driving, working out. My mind responds well to my body in motion in whatever form it takes. It’s simple why: Being in motion makes me physically feel what it’s like to move forward. When I am trying to convince my mind and soul to move on, I move as much as I can. Physically playing out the movement prepares me mentally to do the same.
Sometimes you just need to get out of town, get a new perspective. But you can’t always see that you need a new perspective because well, you need a new perspective to be able to see that. It’s complicated. Open your eyes. What do you see? More possibilities? Does your new view give you more hope? That’s the goal. Although, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes a shift in perspective just makes you see what you’ve lost.
– Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy Season 10 Episode 22
I lifted, ran sprints, biked furiously, and drove aimlessly today. I moved and moved some more. I still didn’t move through what I wanted but that’s the work for tomorrow and the next day.
I worked remotely in college but I was still tied to the university as a student. This made moving possible but not like it is now that I literally have no place to be. This ability to move my life has suddenly fallen in line with the other habits above (driving, working out, biking). It’s helping me work out a new perspective and to move on. As the quote says though, sometimes a shift in perspective just makes you see what you’ve lost.
After traveling for the last 9 months or so, I’ve realized what I’ve lost and what I miss the most: community. I biked by a beautiful house today that inspired me to begin mentally planning out my own potential future (tiny) home. Seconds later, I biked by an empty lot and already began envisioning what it could look like. I saw the space – how the walls/windows opened into nature easily and the house as a whole connected different passions of mine. I zoomed out and saw the neighborhood – the potential friends I would have near me, the local soccer field I would go play at during the week, the gym around the corner. I saw dinners being cooked, friends invited over, and late night conversations happening on my imaginary porch.
Moving is a wonderful thing but it’s not how we are supposed to spend most of our lives – it’s why our legs get tired, our lungs give out, and our cars run out of gas. We have to pause. In the moments after moving to the next stop, I pause and take note of the new perspective I have been lucky enough to see. Whether it’s down the street at the park or across the world, it’s important to take note.
The more I’m on the move jumping from place to place, the more I think about what I want to do when I’m finally not. I like to think that by doing so I’ll be able to get the most out of both opportunities (to travel and to grow roots).
For now, I must keeping moving – there’s too much I need to work through and I need the perspective.
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