Pomagranate Chapstick Reflections

I’m at the airport a little early and I had time to trim my fingernails this morning. I’ve got a new haircut, my shirt is still unwrinkled and I’ve got some great tasting chapstick in my pocket. If that’s not enough, Jack’s Mannequin is soothing my ears as I’m getting ready for one heck of a week.

It’s amazing how our perspectives, no matter how simple they may be, can complicate our lives. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to strap on a backpack and embark on an adventure with my guitar in my hand. Sure things can get stressful (it’s in their nature, right?) but do we really need to dwell on issues and make them our lives?

I think December dug its roots deep this year. It really is the turning point for all of us, you know? We come together and are inevitably forced to reflect on our lives.

What have we done?

Where have we been?

Who are we?

Where are going?

Who do we want to be?

The last question is the one that gets us the most. More often than not, I’m driven by my passions and I find myself being the person that I “should be” in order to pursue these passions. What I’m finding lately is that this isn’t necessarily the person that I am. I wish I could have these two personas meet. I wonder what they would think of one another.

If you could describe me in one word, what would it be? I think I would choose ambitious. Or maybe it would passionate. Ambitious seems to cover more ground because my ambition is driven by my passion. Arguably, I’m ambitious to a fault.

I think that if you compared my current self to who I was a year ago the most notable difference would be that I’ve finally discovered balance. I’m learning to spread my ambition to span more than just my career and finding other things to occupy my time. I love my work and that’s typically why I’ve chosen to make it my number one priority but there’s just more to life than that, you know?

I’m making time to do more than work this year. In fact, here is my 2009 to-do list (in no particular order):

1. Take pictures of Christmas lights

2. Photography Outings

3. Camping

4. Boating/Wakeboarding

5. Read

6. Write More

7. Get better at Guitar

8. Find a coffee shop and become a regular

9. Outdoor Activities (hiking)

10. Explore the shops on South Congress

11. Shooting

12. Go to a Longhorns game

13. Play more board games

14. Get more involved in church

15. Start a young-professional’s bible study and fellowship

16. Go ice skating

17. Go to concerts

18. Perform at an open mic night

19. Visit museums

20. Visit art galleries

21. Visit more poetry slams

22. Visit Boston

23. Tailgate a UT game

24. Paintball

It’s a work in progress (especially since I tend to add a new item every day). Some of them are very short-term (take pictures of Christmas lights, for example) but it’s really just a list of things that I want to explore outside of the 9-5.

What’s on your list?

Technorati Tags: 2009 adventures, airports, reflections, traveling