A while ago, I was asked an interesting question, “What do you need to survive here this winter?” Now, this may not seem like such a hard question. I mean, it could be answered quite easily with any sort of food, fun, friends, etc. comment. But it got me thinking, do I just want to survive? Is my goal really just to make it through this winter and then to move on to the next thing or do I want to thrive here; even if I don’t wind up staying? So, i changed the question: what do I need to thrive here this winter?
And so, I’ve been thinking. One of the first things that came to mind was community. As I learned this summer, community is vital to my being able to thrive in a place, I am not as totally independent as I once thought, nor do I want to be. I also quickly realized that I would need some more silliness; something that was kind of lacking in my life here at the time. I realized that I really do need some goofiness in my life and some people who are willing to be strange and silly with me. Other ideas have been slow in coming. One of the most recent ones is that I need something to scheme about.
While walking around the mall after Christmas with my friend Teresa I remembered just how much we used to scheme, how good we were at it, and just how much I enjoyed it. We did have some awesome schemes in our time, like kidnapping our youth leader and taking her to the new coffee shop in town or creating random scrapbook projects for people. But more than these random surprises, I really like planning things whether it’s an 80s luau party, a way to surprise someone, or a trip I like scheming.
I haven’t exactly been successful this winter in doing these things this winter. Quite frankly, I’ve kind of failed so far. But putting them down in words helps. It’s motivating to see it in writing (it helps me start scheming). So, my question for you is this; what will it take for you to thrive this winter, this year?
