A Phone Call
For anyone that has gone through change, it can be really difficult. Really challenging.
Yet really freeing too.
We tend to remember the good things when we leave a place, and forget the struggles. Sometimes we remember the struggles and forget the good. Our minds are funny like that, we hold on to things without fully understanding why. Sometimes we hold on too long, sometimes we're too eager to let go.
I don't know what it is, but I have such a hard time getting my concerns across when I'm talking with people. I've been focusing on being more open, but at the same time I still tend to avoid the questions with a smile and generic response. I think a lot of that has to do with not wanting to waste people's time if they're asking to be polite rather than genuine concern, but more than likely it's because of the fear of what honesty may bring. Sometimes honesty is painful to hear, sometime's it's painful to accept.
I was talking with a friend about Northland and about not being able to go back. I should really be okay with that, because it wasn't always a place I called home. At the same time, I feel as if it has become a part of me, and I so incredibly miss my Northland family. Knowing I will never live with those friends again, not being able to go to their room and play video games, bake cookies at midnight, run over to their rooms and sit up all night and talk. Those moments have become memories, and it breaks my heart to know they are gone. I still cling to the hope that maybe someday I'll be around them again, or live with them, or next to them, or something. Believing that friendship will stay strong despite distance. Even more incredible is knowing that it's not always miles put between to create distance, but simply busyness and inflexibility.
For those of you still at Northland, treasure this time. Don't waste it. Get out of your room, do things you don't feel like doing, make those moments count. It won't truly hit you until your far separated from it. I'm not far away from the college itself, but a college is nothing more than a set of buildings when you're no longer a part of it.
I wonder what would happen if we made all the moments in our life count. So many of us are filled with worry, doubt, and diffidence that we don't always say what's on our hearts. We avoid opportunities to reveal ourselves, we don't call people in honesty, we don't make the effort to fully develop our relationships because of this thing called fear. This thing called laziness. This thing called "too busy".
But what would tomorrow look like if you called up that person and let them know you love them? What would tomorrow look like if you called up that long lost friend and told them you forgive them? What would tomorrow look like if you called up your family member and genuinely asked them about their life?
What would tomorrow look like if you took that lonely man at church out for coffee?
What would tomorrow look like if you stopped making it about yourself?
I really think there are forces working against us, forces trying to stop us. Maybe your forces come with alcohol, maybe your forces come with over working, maybe your forces come with insecurity, maybe your forces come with weight, maybe your forces come with laziness, but whatever your forces are, know that you have a choice in deciding whether or not they win.
What's stopping you from picking up that phone and making that call?
Examine yourself, examine your life. We were given one, and that's it. At the end of your life, don't you think that you'll look back and wonder why you were so afraid to say what was on your mind? How silly you were for not saying it all, and letting life happen without holding back. You only get one shot.
Will you make that call?
Yet really freeing too.
We tend to remember the good things when we leave a place, and forget the struggles. Sometimes we remember the struggles and forget the good. Our minds are funny like that, we hold on to things without fully understanding why. Sometimes we hold on too long, sometimes we're too eager to let go.
I don't know what it is, but I have such a hard time getting my concerns across when I'm talking with people. I've been focusing on being more open, but at the same time I still tend to avoid the questions with a smile and generic response. I think a lot of that has to do with not wanting to waste people's time if they're asking to be polite rather than genuine concern, but more than likely it's because of the fear of what honesty may bring. Sometimes honesty is painful to hear, sometime's it's painful to accept.
I was talking with a friend about Northland and about not being able to go back. I should really be okay with that, because it wasn't always a place I called home. At the same time, I feel as if it has become a part of me, and I so incredibly miss my Northland family. Knowing I will never live with those friends again, not being able to go to their room and play video games, bake cookies at midnight, run over to their rooms and sit up all night and talk. Those moments have become memories, and it breaks my heart to know they are gone. I still cling to the hope that maybe someday I'll be around them again, or live with them, or next to them, or something. Believing that friendship will stay strong despite distance. Even more incredible is knowing that it's not always miles put between to create distance, but simply busyness and inflexibility.
For those of you still at Northland, treasure this time. Don't waste it. Get out of your room, do things you don't feel like doing, make those moments count. It won't truly hit you until your far separated from it. I'm not far away from the college itself, but a college is nothing more than a set of buildings when you're no longer a part of it.
I wonder what would happen if we made all the moments in our life count. So many of us are filled with worry, doubt, and diffidence that we don't always say what's on our hearts. We avoid opportunities to reveal ourselves, we don't call people in honesty, we don't make the effort to fully develop our relationships because of this thing called fear. This thing called laziness. This thing called "too busy".
But what would tomorrow look like if you called up that person and let them know you love them? What would tomorrow look like if you called up that long lost friend and told them you forgive them? What would tomorrow look like if you called up your family member and genuinely asked them about their life?
What would tomorrow look like if you took that lonely man at church out for coffee?
What would tomorrow look like if you stopped making it about yourself?
I really think there are forces working against us, forces trying to stop us. Maybe your forces come with alcohol, maybe your forces come with over working, maybe your forces come with insecurity, maybe your forces come with weight, maybe your forces come with laziness, but whatever your forces are, know that you have a choice in deciding whether or not they win.
What's stopping you from picking up that phone and making that call?
Examine yourself, examine your life. We were given one, and that's it. At the end of your life, don't you think that you'll look back and wonder why you were so afraid to say what was on your mind? How silly you were for not saying it all, and letting life happen without holding back. You only get one shot.
Will you make that call?
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