An Important Reminder

For a variety of reasons, I’m currently in a period of great transition. As I navigate through this time in my life, I find myself craving a complicated mix of change and consistency. This time has its ups and downs, but I’m learning a great deal about life, and about myself.

Sometimes I feel like people can be like mirrors in that others can help us to gain insight into ourselves by sharing their experiences with us. While talking about my simultaneous cravings for change and consistency with a friend the other day, he mentioned that at least in his own life, he felt as if he’d spent more time in transition than in a place of consistency. I found that his seemingly simple statement really helped to put some complicated things into perspective for me.

We each have our own paths, and along those paths lie many challenges, milestones, and accomplishments. After we’ve climbed one mountain, we might just find ourselves positioned in front of another, another after that, and so on in a continuous process of becoming.

My hope for you, as well as myself is that the process of “climbing the mountain” serves to strengthen and prepare us for whatever might lie ahead when we finish one chapter, only to begin another.  I was reminded that through it all, it’s important to appreciate the journey.

Wishing you Grace & Peace,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins, MSW

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I'm a Social Justice Educator and Aspiring Humanitarian who is interested in conflict resolution, improving intergroup relations, and building more equitable and inclusive communities. "Notes from an Aspiring Humanitarian" is my blog, where I write about issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice. By exploring social identities through written word, film & video, and other forms of media, I hope to continue to expand and enrich conversations about social issues that face our society, and to find ways to take social action while encouraging others to do so as well in their own ways.

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7 Responses

  1. Daniel Jacob says:

    Your thoughts and reflection are true to form, and tell your story quite well. Having the opportunity to read and embrace your words over the last few months, i see that your skills, insight, and aspirations are in tact. Your sense of self and self awareness is growing day by day, post by post, challenge by challenge… You are for the right thing and a welcomed asset to the field of helping others change for the better, I hear you!

    • I too can feel the change taking place within myself, day by day, post by post, and challenge by challenge. Its my hope that when I arrive on the other side of the challenges that I’m currently facing I’ll be able to begin climbing the next mountain with new knowledge and a renewed sense of self!

      Thank you so much Daniel for your words of affirmation! They have truly come at the right time.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Beautifully stated Relando and reminds me of the ‘state’ of transition I was in before deciding to enter the profession of Social Work. I felt there was something ‘more’ I needed to do and also felt that my life had more of a ‘purpose’ than to merely search for jobs that provided me my bread and butter. This led to asking for more mountains to climb, more bendy paths to take and also more cliffs to fall off in pursuing a thought in making an impact in society for the betterment of mankind…here I am now, studying BA (Hons) Social Work.

    • Thank you for reading, as well as taking the time to comment!

      Ah Yes! I can definitely relate to your thoughts about feeling that there was something “more” that you needed to do, and your wanting to live a life of purpose.

      A friend of mine once said: “I don’t want a job, I want a vocation; something that gves myself and my life meaning and purpose.”

      I share those feelings. I too do not only want a job that merely provides “bread and butter”, I want something that provides me with a purpose and contributes to improving the human condition. Now, like you, here I am in Social Work.

      Your comment has inspired to look deeper into my reasoning behind why I do what I do, and I look forwad to sharing those thoughts in the future.

      Thank you!

  3. dorleem says:

    I feel like I can fully identify with what you are going through, Relando… and I appreciate the words of wisdom that you are offering “appreciate the journey” because the journey is in fact probably our life (or most of it) when we will look back on it… And if we won’t appreciate the journey and are just focused on the “end” (which is a moving target), we will have essentially missed paying attention [being present] to most of our lives.

    Life is full of its oops and downs, as Eeyore would say but I think if we try to learn from the downs or the difficult times, they can teach us many wise lessons that can help us better appreciate the many beautiful and positive things in life.

    • Thank you so much Dorlee for both your readearship, support, and comments.

      “the journey is in fact probably our life (or most of it) when we will look back on it… And if we won’t appreciate the journey and are just focused on the “end” (which is a moving target), we will have essentially missed paying attention [being present] to most of our lives.

      Life is full of its oops and downs, as Eeyore would say but I think if we try to learn from the downs or the difficult times, they can teach us many wise lessons that can help us better appreciate the many beautiful and positive things in life.”

      Those are wise words Dorlee, I’ll be thinking about them when I start feeling “stuck”.

  1. November 17, 2012

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