By Troy Headrick
Hi, everyone. I’ve been away for a couple of weeks. I’ve certainly missed being here, but I needed time off to decompress and recharge.
Speaking of decompressing and recharging, I wonder if people, living during earlier periods of history, felt as hurried and harried as those of us living in this twenty-first century feel. That’s an interesting question perhaps best left to the historians.
I like to see myself as a project. I’m always an early draft, a rough sketch. For me, it’s more about process than product.
If I ever think of myself as being “finished,” then what is left to do?
Right now, I’m working on helping myself get past a sticking point. In July of 2015, I came back to the United States after living in northeast Africa for seven years. Prior to that stint abroad, I had lived in various locales in Asia and Europe.
Since returning to the US, I haven’t traveled overseas. This fact gets me back to the sticking point I mentioned early. Lately, it seems, I’ve been feeling like I’m stuck here. My jet-setting, adventurous years look like they’re behind me, at least for the moment, and this makes me feel a little sad.
When I get down, I remember that a person can travel while never leaving home, and that the feeling of adventure and wonder, the one I recall from my past, can be recreated when I remind myself that I’m on a spiritual sojourn. Even though I’m no longer currently spending my time in interesting, far-flung spots, there are all sorts of new developments in my life and that these are taking me to many never-before-seen way stations on my journey. Without each stop, the trip would lack context and coherence.
Wondrous things can be found “out there,” in the world, but they can also be found by turning inward, by facing each day with the heart of a traveler, the heart that stands open and ready to touch and be touched.
It’s about getting the heart and mind right. And that is my newest project.
Troy Headrick’s personal blog can be found here.