A Trip Out West
Boy, am I excited to write this blog.
This one is unlike most of mine. I usually share photos of work I’ve done with seniors or families and talk about how great it was to meet them, to get to know them, to see their personalities spark. I love writing those blogs too- don’t get me wrong. However, it does feel good to share a story about me getting to know me, and getting to see my own personality spark up again. It’s a blog about friendship, confidence, and adventure. I’m not sure how many of you actually tune into these, but if you choose this one, my wish is that it sparks something in you too.
First I want to talk a little bit about friendship. It’s a common topic, but I’m not sure how much time we actually spend thinking about those who we call our friends. I wish for everyone to have a Rachel in their lives. A friend who is down for absolutely any and every adventure that is (financially lol) possible. A friend who you can share the hardest laughs with- the ones that make you (or maybe just me) question if you will or will not wet your pants. *I feel like this might be a good time to add that we did not get to pick the design of our van, so we had plenty of good laughs about that. A friend who you can talk about the deep stuff with. The stuff that most people don’t care to talk about and definitely don’t care to listen to. We all need people to listen to us sometimes. I hope that you have a friend that listens. A friend that you can straight up JAM with, but more importantly that you can share understood silence with.
My best friend Rachel and I have lived together for many years. We’ve shared hotel rooms, condos, tents, couches, kitchen floors, bunk beds, and numerous air mattresses- but we had not checked van off the list yet. It was a pretty spontaneous trip, but we put our heads together and planned to check out the West- van style. We flew out to Denver, had the most incredible night downtown, and then picked up the Escape CamperVan Saturday morning! We hit Aspen for a night, then Moab, then Breckenridge to finish the trip off. We drove that van over 800 miles. It was absolutely incredible, and a time I will never forget.
Next I want to talk a little bit about confidence. Confidence is something that varies in definition between people, but it’s never been something I’ve truly struggled much with. However- I’m not going to lie to anyone and say that I haven’t been feeling a little funky month 7 of quarantine. I miss concerts. I miss my friends. I miss big gatherings and smiling faces. I just couldn’t seem get my head out of the funk.
I say that to say this- if you’re feeling stagnant, do something about it. If you’re feeling like you need to take a mental check-out trip, take it. Look out for yourself. You’re the only one who you can count on to do that. We are all busy- make the time. Think about what really lights you up inside and go after that. Hell, do it tonight. Maybe it’s camping in a van in the dessert in Utah. Maybe it’s breaking free to the coast and soaking up the salty, humid air. Maybe it’s visiting the people in life that you truly love and who make you feel most alive. It’s different for most of us, so it doesn’t matter what you choose- I just encourage you to do it. We only get to live this life one time and it can be so much dang fun if we let ourselves enjoy it.
This trip gave me confidence in many ways. Confidence in my ability to drive an old van up and down mountains (lol), confidence in my capability of rerouting my perspective, confidence in being able to survive such an adventure, and most importantly I found a lot of confidence in the future.
Lastly, I want to talk a little bit about adventure. I encourage all of you to find something that makes you feel very small. Things that make you realize how big of a God we have, and how simple of our lives truly are. Feeling small every now and then is empowering, and great for perspective. Find a friend (or a few) and take this odd social-distancing time to go on a wild adventure. It doesn’t have to cost much money, it just has to add a little fire to the flame inside of you. This is such a beautiful planet we live on and there is SO much out there to see- go enjoy it! Go see it! Go make memories with people that make you feel good. Just live.
