Travel – Page 2 – Chloe J Sayers

T of Death (2/3)

I used to enjoy merging. On long drives home from Grove City, I’d merge happily on the freeway to keep myself amused and awake.

I realized today that I have become a right lane rider. After months of passing gruesome wrecks on the highway, merging has become a gamble with death. There’s a downside to parking in the right side lane too often, though. You tend to get stuck. The traffic flow experts can correct me on this, but it does seem that the left lanes go faster. But it’s safe in the right lane.

Last post about the T of Death, I bewailed against being so broadly skilled that you aren’t skilled at all. This week, I want to spread my caution against getting too stuck doing the same thing forever.

Ironically, this is often the result of being too diverse in one’s interests at some point. You take every job and internship you can get. Of course, a wood-carving class tends to lead to wood-carving internships which leads to a wood-carving job and before you know it, you’ve spent your whole life as the human equivalent of a termite.

I just want to make sure I don’t live my entire life in the right lane, playing it safe only to find out that I’ll never get where I want to go. The merge might be scary, dangerous, and potentially life-threatening but I’d rather be moving in the right direction than idiling in the same spot.

Life Lessons, People, Travel

Time Zones

My sister has lived at least one time zone away from me for the last five years. Minus one, plus two, minus three. My time, your time, Eastern Standard Time.

This summer, my fiance has been in two different time zones. At first, I consoled myself by thinking, “It will be better once it’s a ten hour difference, not 7 hours. 7 hours is too awkward–10 will be better.”

Turns out, any time difference is the wrong difference. For now, I am eagerly anticipating the day when I can call all of my loved ones without whipping out the calculator.

Adventure, God, Travel

Following the Pact

When I was young and foolish, I could not get my mind around traffic jams. Why were we just sitting there? Why don’t the first cars just move already?

Nowadays, I still don’t understand all the dynamics of a highway, other than a slight decrease in mph
creates disproportionately high increases in road rage. But I realize it isn’t as simple as a large block of cars, moving at the same speed. There are entrances and exits, merging highways, adverse weather, the occasional deer.

Not to mention drivers’ personalities and motives. While some are perfectly content to putt along, 10 mph under the speed limit, others seem to see driving on the highway as a real-life version of Frogger and get sick thrills from merging at dangerously fast rates, for no apparent reason. Some are rushing to an important meeting, others are dragging their feet in getting into the office. One has a sick spouse at home that they can’t wait to get back to, others have a sick spouse at home that they are trying to avoid for as long as possible.

I’m none of those. I’m a copy cat driver. I slow down when others do, speed when everyone else is, take the detour that the majority of cars are taking. This works decently well on the highway.

But I have a tendency to do so in real life too. We’ve been talking a lot about abiding in Christ lately at my internship. One of my key take-aways was the foolishness of comparing ourselves to other branches (believers) instead of the vine (Christ). I don’t know where they are going. I don’t know there personality, motive, experiences. I definitely don’t know what God has planned for them. So why do I spend more time trying to mimic the growth or avoid the pitfalls I see in others rather than nourishing myself?

Driving like that would end me up in Houston instead of Lancaster. Living like that means I miss out on my own journey and end up exhausting myself just spinning my wheels.

Travel

How To Survive A Lecture-Based Conference

You open up the obligatory “Schedule of Events” A quick scan reveals that all you were hoping against will be your reality for the next few days. Hours of lectures. A break-out discussion. More speakers. If they’re feeling crazy, maybe even a panel discussion or two.

I’m very confident that we weren’t designed to thrive in these settings. Yet it is a necessary part of the Summer of Growing Up and so I have compiled a survival guide in case you find yourself in such a predicament.

How To Survive a Lecture-Based Conference

Pretend that you have stumbled upon this odd gathering of two-legged creatures by accident. Take detailed notes on their habitat, diet, behaviors. Compile into a log journal–including the peculiar sounds they keep making.
Make friends.
Develop your doodling. I had to graduate past my trusty triad–the heart, the balloon, and the square house–in order to not appear completely disinterested. Instead, trying organizing your notes in creatively graphic ways and transform interesting soundbites into typography.
Eat as much of the delicious food they provide as possible. No portion control, no regrets.
Explore! If given the time, do some adventuring wherever the conference is. My favorite way to do this is to do a few investigative morning runs. You get your bearings, find neat things, and don’t feel so sluggish during the 23rd keynote speaker.

Adventure, Maturity, Travel

Riding Solo

In this Summer of Growing Up, I have officially accomplished one of my many goals. You’ll be hearing about the rest later.

I successfully completed my first road trip by myself! This may not sound that impressive, but given my affinity for getting lost, the mere fact that I made it to my destination within a five hour window of my intended arrival time is something that I gleefully celebrated.

Even though I wasn’t able to indulge in my favorite activity of car sleeping, it went by quickly. I became proficient in radio channel changing, food sign scanning, and meaningless merging.

Next Growing Up Goal: Surviving the Wild Topography of Lecture-Based Conferences

Stay tuned for more adventures!

Always,
Chloe