Drive...

I am one of those people who finds meaning and inspiration in quotations and song lyrics. I don't know if I should consider that to be one of my strengths or one of my weaknesses. Much of the poetry in my life has been in the form of song lyrics. As time passes and circumstances change, different songs mean less to me or take on more meaning.

At the moment, there are several songs that seem exceptionally relevant to me, and fit the stage in life where I now find myself. One of those is a song by Incubus called "Drive." I think it's about taking charge of your life, and being receptive to the experiences and opportunities it has to offer, without fear or trepidation (click the play arrow below and follow along with the lyrics).

(lyrics)
Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much I let the fear
Take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before
And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal
But lately I'm beginning to find that I
Should be the one behind the wheel

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes yeah

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
I'll be there

So if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive
Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive?
It's driven me before
And it seems to be the way that everyone else gets around
But lately I'm beginning to find that
When I drive myself my light is found

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes yeah

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
I'll be there

Would you choose water over wine
Hold the wheel and drive

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
With open arms and open eyes yeah

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there
I'll be there

Why?

I have considered all sorts of lengthy, rational explanations when people ask me why I decided to quit my job, pack up, and look for something more, different, better. I suppose, at some point, I will present my thoughts and arguments on the subject.

But I think the best thing I can do now is remember Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham in one of my favorite movies, American Beauty (click the play arrow below):



I figured making some dramatic life changes was preferable to a firebombing campaign.

Things...

It often seems as if our whole purpose in life is to consume, to get bigger and better jobs so we can buy bigger and better things. But things just aren’t that important to me. I value experiences.

One desirable side effect of my decision to pack up and be a semi-vagrant for a while is the need to get rid of some things and do without other things. Our culturally-ingrained need to acquire is a strong force that sometimes requires conscious effort on our part to resist. As Thoreau once wrote, "Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify. Simplify." I am looking forward to seeing just how much I can simplify.

After I store my furniture and other stuff at my brother’s house, I will climb into my car and head toward Washington D.C. with the following things: my mountain bike, my TV (yes, it relieves boredom), my laptop, my camera, some clothes, and probably my pillow.

Don’t get me wrong, I still hope to get a bigger and better job. But I think my definition of “bigger and better” is different. I am looking for a gateway to accumulate more experiences, not more things.

The French have an old saying that strikes me as being fundamentally and profoundly true; Ne pas posséder, être. Not to possess. To be.


On a lighter, and at least somewhat relevant note, you can always count on the folks from The Onion for a good chuckle. The video below is a (very profane!) commentary on our desire to get the newest, latest, greatest, biggest thing. How many things do we really need?

A word of caution; it is totally not safe for work, children, sober Southern Baptists or sensitive ears.

The Beginning...

Over the years, I have frequently considered the words of transcendentalist author Henry David Thoreau, but it has been only recently that I decided to act on them. His most-often quoted passage describes his decision to live alone beside Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

For reasons that I suppose shall be explained as I go, I too have decided to move away from friends and family, and find out what life can teach me. Admittedly, I will not live in isolation – quite the opposite actually – but this experience will be My Walden Pond.Thoreau also wrote, “I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit?” I can say, with great certainty, that my enterprise will require new clothes, but I embark on it with the sincere hope that the result, nonetheless, will be a new man.

If you follow along on this journey, it is likely that I know you well, and, thus, have invited you to read this blog. It is also possible that you stumbled upon it by accident. Either way, as I add to this public record of my New Clothing Enterprise, I hope to be open and honest, even if painfully so. I also hope to be at least somewhat entertaining, perhaps even funny. And if all goes according to plan, I might even provoke thought along the way. I certainly hope the ending will be a happy one.

Soon, I'll be buying a new pair of jeans. And the odyssey shall begin...