Circle of Life

Woah Reader,

I'm so sorry for my unexpected and unintentional hiatus.  Life got away from me for a little while, but I'm back.

As mentioned almost ad nauseum on the other blog, Dorm Room 718, we had a blast at MBLGTACC 2012.  That stands for Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference.  It was absolutely incredible... but we left for Iowa incredibly early.  The sunrise was absolutely breathtaking--it was one of those mornings where the entire sky is cloudy and so the sun reflects off of them in the most brilliant reds, pinks, and purples.  We watched it while listening to the broadway version of The Circle of Life from the Lion King which was epic in itself, but let's get to the big picture.

What's really epic is the sheer fact that I had the opportunity and means to go.  I mean, I had the ability to travel, to be comfortable, to speak and listen to people that I genuinely have come to respect and care about.  We had an epic time and learned a lot.  When we got back, I went home to be with my family which was also epic in its own little way.  Sometimes you have it set in your mind how something is going to be and so you dread an event and unnecessarily stress yourself out about it.  I knew that I was going home under less than ideal circumstances, and I think my friends ultimately had a better handle on the situation as a whole than I did.  They encouraged me to go despite my initial reservations, and it turned out better than I expected it to.  It still sucked based on the circumstances, but there's something to be said about facing something as a family.

It's difficult to admit when you're wrong, but my friends were completely right on this one.  Everything turned out okay and I would have really regretted it had I not gone home.  I'm taking a writing class at the moment and one of the things I'm learning to deal with is the fact that I cannot spot certain flaws within my writing until someone points them out to me.  It's difficult to look at your own writing and your own life objectively, and so having people around you who aren't necessarily as influenced by the emotional nature of a situation is almost crucial to making the right decision sometimes.  My friends were right and I was wrong--this time.

I am blessed to be where I am, to be doing what I'm doing, feeling what I'm feeling, learning what I'm learning, and seeing what I'm seeing.  In spite of anything unfortunate, I am leading an epic life filled with epic people who can sometimes point out my epically flawed personal logic.

Recognize how valuable the people around you are.  Whether either of you see it or not, they're giving you a perspective that's difficult to see by yourself.  Be epic and be well.  Until we meet again,

-Megan

Waves

Hey Reader,

How's it going? I am once again procrastinating slightly, but I swear I will be productive tonight, then I get to hang out with little kids tomorrow morning.  I'm excited.  So, it is 6:02 and I'm kinda just waiting for people before dinner and then there's an event going on tonight.  It's work time after that, I swear.

Life is filled with all sorts of little epic coincidences.  Lately I've noticed that life seems to be composed of two separate waves, like sound waves kinda--there's the internal wave which consists of things like emotions, thoughts, personal goals etc.  It's pretty much everything internalized, and given the name, is subject to very frequent ups and downs, even within the span of a day.  Then there's the second wave consisting of everything external like events, weather, luck, etc.  It's everything external to ourselves and can get a little out of hand sometimes, though we can control it in little ways, such as putting ourselves in specific situations or controlling how we react.  As with the internal wave, this wave also has ups and downs.  Duh, it's a wave.

Now, what I find interesting is how the waves interact with each other.  I mean think of it.  If an external wave crest matches up with an internal wave trough, they cancel out, and vice versa.  This can be way cool if you're having a bad day and then something amazing happens--like seeing an incredible performance.  *cough* *cough* Preston Pugmire. (Look him up, he's great to watch.)  I mean, even if you're having a bad day and something good coincides, yet the waves don't exactly match up, the roughness is eased and life just becomes better.

Sure, these waves can cancel each other out and essentially, mellow you out, but they can also build each other up or rip each other down further.  Take the sun for example, say you are feeling great and then you walk outside and it's a beautiful day--you see an incredible sun reflecting off all the surfaces and BAM, your good mood is now amplified by the great weather.  Unfortunately this can also work in reverse.  Say you're feeling rotten and then you find out you bombed a test or something like that.  The bad mood is now amplified as well.

For the sake of optimism, let's focus on when internal positivity and general happiness coincides with external positivity and possibly good luck.  We cannot isolate the two waves to examine them separately, but I highly doubt our lives would be as intense--yes it can sometimes be intensely painful, but it can also be intensely wonderful, and those times when the wave crests coincide is when epicness occurs.

So, live for the epic times when the crests coincide, they'll get you through the times when the troughs do.  However, also be aware that the frequency is by no means static.  Don't think that life has a set pattern for you, chances are it doesn't.  Just enjoy the spontaneity of it all.

Be well, be excellent, be bloody brilliant!

-Megan