Un-homed But Not Unhinged: Figuring it all out someday
Somehow my week off has gotten busier than expected the last couple of days. There are people I know, mostly younger, who know me from a capacity of offering advice and wisdom. So suddenly they鈥檙e showing up on my doorstep and digging into some deep thoughts and ponderings. I guess it鈥檚 what the new year represents: a time of reflection and direction seeking.
As I鈥檝e listened and watched them I see that they are struggling honestly with issues and ideas. Rather than assume what their experiences and emotions are, they are questioning themselves: Breakups and new relationships, life choices in careers that do or don鈥檛 speak to what is in their hearts, or even how they interact with the people and the world around them. I look at them and remind myself what it was like for me at those ages and stages of my life. Sometimes I like what I recall and sometimes not.
When I do look at myself through those lenses of young honesty and struggle it鈥檚 helping me rediscover some of myself too. Success and failure are notions that being unhomed has truly challenged me to reconsider. When I wake up feeling cramped from the floor or a nap in the back seat it鈥檚 easy to focus on the failure part. But what I find interesting is that none of these younger folks sees any failure in what my situation is. Instead they see me working on things in my own ways and there鈥檚 a mutual respect that arises. Somehow that is encouraging me that I鈥檓 going to be OK.
So here鈥檚 to a New Year of opportunity and life moving forward. Be safe.
Previous posts in this series:
- Solitude
- The Good, The Bad
- From The Heart
- Does Anyone Really See Me?
- Keeping Perspective
- Showers at the Natatorium
- Achieving Homelessness
