Don't Wait

Hello Internet Friends,

Apologies are to be made for my general lack of presence on this blog.  But it’s the eleventh hour and finals week is almost upon us! As this semester is coming to an end, I have had a very prominent thought in my life about how we think of other people. 
Just recently I had my last class with a bunch of really awesome people and I realized that we all really enjoy each others’ company and it is going to be a sad thing to not have a class with them anymore.  To me I was upset that all of us hadn’t realized this sooner.  We spent all semester awkwardly avoiding conversation with each other and waiting desperately before classes for our professor to come in so we wouldn’t have to sit in painful silence.  Now that I know that we all get along so well, I find it silly and sad that it took us so long to warm up to each other.  I really didn’t happen until about two weeks ago.  Now the semester is over and I think back to all the times that I waited too long to make friendships.  One memory in particular was when I was in eighth grade and it was the very last day of school and soon everyone would all be heading to different high schools and I kept hoping this one boy (we’ll name him Harold) would ask me to be his girlfriend.  I liked Harold the whole school year, but waited until the very last day to say anything because I knew it would force him to act quickly.  Part of this was me being overly good at manipulation at a young age, and part was a desperate cry for this boy to like me.  Looking back on this it is so silly that it took me so long to do something.  There are so many instances in my life I can point to where similar things have happened and I think it is so sad.  Whether it was a friendship or a potential relationship, I thought I had to wait for things to work themselves out.  Word to the wiser-than-me, don’t go by that mantra.  That mantra sucks.  No one should feel that they need to wait until the last second to make a connection with someone.  Go right the heck out there and go for it! Most of the time, something good is just waiting to happen and you get in the way of letting yourself have something good.  Don’t let that whole semester go by, don’t wait until you’re graduating, leaving on office, or moving out of town.  Grab time by its feathers and fly with it. 

 Love you all, (except for you, poophead. You know who you are.)

Escaping Suburbia: Getting in Touch

Finally, the negative degree weather is over and I had a Saturday with nothing planned so I went on an adventure that I like to call Escaping Suburbia.  The weather wasn’t great, it was just above freezing and all the snow at my house was melted so I figured it would be extremely muddy what with all the melted snow.  I wasn’t even a little bit right.  Ten yards into the trail there was a foot of snow which was okay but a lot colder than I anticipated.  However, under the shade of the trees, the snow had compacted and it was all ice. 

Now, since I’m Julia, I wanted to take the tougher trail that was difficult and made you prone to slipping, even in eighty degree weather.  About five minutes into the hike, my boyfriend and I were slipping all over the place and I sat on a fallen tree, defeated.  I didn’t want to go on because I knew that the trail was really steep and if you fell the wrong way, you’d tumble three stories off the edge into a creek.  We didn’t want to be quitters so we decided that we would just go as far as we could, then turn back once it got too icy.  Two minutes later, we were at a steep drop with no trees or roots to help keep your balance.  We were about to turn back when I slipped a little and got an idea.  Instead of turning back, we slid down the ice on our butts, and what I thought would’ve been a crappy day turned into one of the most fun times I’ve had hiking.  There was a lot of butt sliding, climbing over fallen tree limbs, and falling through feet of snow into the creek.  It really wore me down.  I twisted my ankle and fell in the creek a couple of times, but it was awesome. 

You learn a lot about yourself when you’re forced to channel your wild side (wild in a nature/animalistic sense, not spring break in Cancun wild).  The typical person just sits and stands and walks and that’s it, really.  They might work out, but even then, it’s repetitive. Being around nature is what humans were supposed to do.  As much as people might disagree, humans are just animals with complex emotions.  We are no more important than other mammals and insects.  We don’t have any more of a right to Earth than every other creature we live with.  Going outside and getting in tune with everything out there (instead of looking at Facebook or Twitter) is exhilarating. 

When I’m hiking, I learn my body’s rhythm and stride better.  There is nothing to distract from myself.  It’s fun to see what you’re capable of.  One of my favorite feelings is when I’m going down a steep slope and I just let my feet fall in to place.  Hesitation just doesn’t exist in those moments.  The idea is that you don’t go down slowly and carefully, afraid of falling, you just leap and land without fear.  And I think that’s how life should be lived; without hesitation.  Just leaping and landing knowing that you could fall, but being okay with it.