“Haw realized again, as he had once before, that what you are afraid of is never as bad as what you imagine. The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists.” -Dr. Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese?
Over the years, I’ve ridden on multiple modes of transport, but probably none more than air travel. No big surprise, if you’ve been following this blog for a bit. Recently, during a visit with some sweet friends, we got talking about processes and truthfully how I was lamenting one that I’m currently involved in. Both friends, with different words, challenged me to just “embrace the process”, the good and the bad and don’t try to fix it. It was such a good word for me, and though it kind of had an edge on it, it spoke such rich truth to my soul in the moment!
Each time I get on a plane, no matter what language (or languages) they say it in, there’s a process that must be followed before the plane can take off. All passengers are encouraged to be seated in their seats, with seatbelts safely fastened and all the tray tops and seat backs must be in the appropriate condition. Like I said, I’ve flown a lot. Recently, I flew to Ethiopia via Turkey, so there were a few planes we enjoyed on this trip. Though my younger years found me often able to sleep on the floor under my parents’ feet, or even in an awkward position in a seat, most days now I find it hard to sleep on planes despite how tired I might get. But no matter whether or not I have an entire row to myself or just the regularly assigned seat, I almost always find myself having my seatbelt buckled when seated on the regular. This has been a process that I have embraced well, and regularly!
So why do I easily accept certain processes, but then with others I have a tendency to lend a critical eye. You might have been there, like me, walking into a new location or company with a set of fresh eyes and seeing processes that seem ancient, and all of the sudden you see all the ways to do them better. True confessions, there was a moment this past week that I was having a similar moment and I kept asking questions about something and finally I just said – because I knew I was acting crazy – “ok, I’m just going to do and stop asking questions about it.” I did feel a little crazy in that moment, but it reminded me of these friends words; and in them I saw that sometimes this is more of a rebellion of sorts, rather than one of growth.
In looking at travel and eventually overseas living again, I’ve been forced to think through my own personal comforts that I’ve grown to enjoy. During that Ethiopia trip, I was reminded of the great gift of electricity as well as ear plugs. The first morning when returning back to my room from the shared bathroom area, I was surprised to notice that the electricity was out. Thankfully the sun sets and rises like clockwork there, so there was plenty of light to dress and prepare for the day. The earplugs, on the other hand didn’t always do the job of blocking out the competing religious leaders in the wee hours of the morning, as they sang out their calls for prayer or reminders to their attenders to come together. This experience was a wonderful blessing of reminder for me. Though many comforts we often take for granted here in the west, are a gift in other parts of the world.
A few years ago, when I was living overseas in Turkey, my then roommate talked about setting a goal that year to read 100 books. I was amazed at her determination in the task, because truthfully due to working a full time job for the previous 12 years I often didn’t feel like I had much time to read more books than just a few in the year. But her diligence sparked an interest in me, and so I began my efforts to read 50 that next year, including a few we read together with some friends. This challenge has become one that I try each year since (though true confessions, 2019 I only read 34); and it really helped, especially when I launched back into the world of academia in 2018, after being out of it for 18 years. One of the books I ended up reading was Chip Gaines’ book, Capital Gaines : Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff, and he talks a bit about comfort and how we can be challenged to not become complacent in these. “Unfortunately, I think most of us have become subconsciously obsessed with safety and comfort, & make our choices accordingly. The problem with that is this, NOTHING worthwhile ever comes easy. So behind almost every one of these decisions we make is an even bigger decision, the compass that determines the direction of our lives. Do I want a safe comfortable and easy life, or do I want my days to matter?”
I’m sure at this point, if you’ve made it this far in the post, you might be thinking maybe I’m rambling a bit…but I promise I’m going to bring it all back soon. In moments of reading challenging words or hearing them from friends, what we do with them really matters. As an extravert, over the years I have noticed that when I’m in the presence of others extraverted I often fight to have a voice; but during my time in Ethiopia I found myself not doing that so much. Reflecting back on that now, I find that there was so much wisdom to glean from these that were sharing, and yes there were times to add to the discussion and other times it was best to offer affirming words to those who were sharing in the narrative. Was this my way of embracing the processes put before me, or maybe just jet-lag, or hopefully wisdom? Well, honestly, I think only time will tell. But I hope as I continue down my reading lists, relationship building moments, the check lists given to me of process to do’s, as well as adventurous journeys in overseas life; I hope that I approach it all with more grace than the day before in order to reflect God’s character more and more.
I wanted to share a little update on the current journey of that TRUE NORTH. As I continue in a process that hopefully leads me back towards overseas living, going forward, I’ll be jumping in with all I have to learn all I can, in efforts to love on whoever is put in front of me. After a little over a month serving those affected by Hurricane Dorian on Grand Bahama Island, my current station is Nashville, TN. The opportunity to serve on the island was a wonderful and humbling time. I’m especially grateful that I was able to be there, because I have some friends who were hit really hard during the storm on the island, and I was able to have some family away from family as well as opportunities to love on their whole family during that time. The efforts of studying hard this past year in graduate school definitely got applied to this former position; what a gift!
Being in Nashville, thanks to the generosity of sweet friends to take me in, I’m learning a fun new city, and sharing my administrative gifts at local non-profit in the area. The next month here will lend towards celebrating a friend’s birthday, we already celebrated the New Year in grand #NashvilleNYE style, and will bring sweet times seeing old friends; and of course, making new ones. The smallness of this world really becomes more obvious, when you’re talking with an old friend you haven’t seen since 2016 and they say that a girl in my office goes to church with them. I love when community knows no borders, and can transcend oceans. I just love that good gift from God!
This year my book challenge is super ambitious, I’m shooting to read 100 books. (funny thing – I had accidentally typed years instead of books – it made me LOL!) Some of these are carry over series from years past, and then some were technically started in 2019.
- What are you reading this year?
- Are you doing a specific challenge? (amount, topic, etc.)
One of my friend’s, Kristen, has always been a reader but I think (and she can tell me if I’m wrong) she actually has two Instagram accounts now just for chatting about and with others that are book loves too. You should totally connect with her if you’re a reader!!! Since I have such a BIG book challenge this year, I wanted to let you know and tell you that I’ll be sharing some of my favorite quotes from some of those as well as well other things I’ve been learning. I have a few other goals for 2020, and one of the leftovers from 2019 that I read about in Annie F. Downs’ book 100 days to brave was to write down my dreams.
The 2020 list is a bit shorter than the dreams one, but if I’ve learned anything from this big life that God has gifted me with, there’s bound to be more to come. And that’s true for you too! Friend, I hope you know that God made you, He loves you, and wants you to know Him. So, wherever your adventures and travels take you, whatever your processes are (whether successful or struggles), I hope you’ll consider embracing the ONE who give order to all the processes of my life and gives me purpose.
Expect more from this year, won’t you?! And if you have strengths and insights how to maneuver successfully in processes that are a little challenging, I hope you’ll share them here…so others (LIKE ME) can learn and do better at this! Or if you just want to share your reading challenge insight, or have questions, send them my way. I hope we’ll all embrace and push through the fears of our days, to really live lives that matter.
HAPPY NEW YEAR & new decade…let’s make it count!
- If you’d like to see more about my time on the island, and follow along as I find fun spots here in Nashville, let’s connect on Instagram.
- Have just a little time, but love to learn new things and reading, check out Audible, or even Hoopla, both have audiobooks you can listen to anywhere.
- Consider giving towards ongoing efforts helping those affected by Hurricane Dorian.
Take offs & landings 