Sunday, December 5, 2010

Making Stories


Running out of stories is never a good thing, but sometimes it is a kick in the pants. Looking back over my posts, I see that in order to have stories, a person has to go somewhere. In order to go somewhere, you have to move. I get angry with people who don't do anything with their lives especially when I see that they have great talents, but aren't using them. Sometimes it's hard, though to run off the cliff because you're not sure your body can take the impact of the fall until you actually glide through the water at the bottom.

This is my life, I go to the same job, eat the same food, and go to the same coffee shop every Saturday morning. Some older people would say, well, that's just how life is, but that is not a good enough answer for me. I want more. I want to be able to have new stories.

Sometimes stories just come upon a person. Like my roommate for instance, she wasn't looking for a guy, was living life, taking it as it came. Then, bam, out of nowhere this sweet guy walked into her life and rocked her world. They're getting married soon and it's a good thing. There are some people that I'm uncertain about the health of their relationship, but I've got my bet on these two. They're going to make it and make some good stories for themselves.

So what does making new stories look like for me? I'm beginning to think that it means doing something drastic, like selling most of my possessions, putting what I don't sell in my car and setting out. To where? I don't know!  I guess it's like pioneering all over again. Setting out to dreams that you can't quite perceive, but have heard of from people of the past. Looking toward something, that is big and scary because you've never tried it before, but you won't know the excitement that it holds until you actually take the training wheels off and ride free and clear. I think these are the kinds of stories I am looking for.

Right now, some of you are probably reading this and thinking that I'm naive. Well, the truth is I am. I've never lived anywhere away from my family other than a couple of years at school in Canada and even there I knew people. I've never been completely alone. Ever! I guess I want to see if I can survive, if I can make it out there in the big world of freeways and skyscrapers. Now, I'm not naive as to the danger. I am well aware of the creepy things that happen in our world. But somehow, this doesn't seem like enough to keep me from dreaming.

A classmate of mine recently wrote an essay on our generation and how we get comfortable and don't want to move unless something catastrophic happens in our lives. I wouldn't say that it's just our generation, but most. We seek the comfortable because, well, it's comfortable. Not too many people dream of living out of their car and eating from the local food bank. I'm not saying that this is what everybody should do, but maybe we would all have a few more stories to tell if we did live a bit more on the edge. I think this is what I'm going for. Time to take the training wheels off and head for the big hill.


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