Open to Opportunities
My mind is my most formidable enemy. It tells me to stay home and to do little. It tells me that I need rest. It tells me to not make plans. For the longest time I thought I was an overly extroverted person. I thought I survived on being out with people. It has taken time, but I now see that I’m entirely introverted. I can’t survive without people and the relationships I have, but I also need lots of time alone. Many times I have simply stayed home. It has made me miss out on things that I desperately wish I hadn’t. With that knowledge I tend to not listen to my mind. I try to know myself and trick my brain into letting me do things.
It was Monday — I have every Monday off. On a normal Monday there is laundry to do, rooms to clean, and studying to happen. This weekend, though, I had missed out on seeing Seth. Since the move to Fort Worth we have tried to not let a week go by without seeing each other. A week had almost gone by. I texted him to see what he was doing. “I’m home sick,” he said. “With what?” I replied. If it was explosive diarrhea I would have stayed home. “Congestion, and general death,” he said.
I have little fear of the flu or the cold since my time at CVS. I’m not saying that I can’t catch them. It’s just that after days of people coughing on you and not getting sick, it makes you confident. Seth being sick didn’t scare me. It was the fact that it was 11:30AM and at 6PM I needed to be home to get prepared for meeting. In retrospect, that seems like a huge amount of time, but then it seemed like too little time to warrant a visit. My broken mind will think of all the time spent traveling and gas wasted and food eaten and money spent. It will look at every negative thing to keep me from moving.
My best defense is to just not think. To just act. That’s what happened. Before I knew it I was in my car, sans socks, driving down I-20 to Seth’s house. I was there in the blink of three songs. At the door I found Phoebe barking at me. Being protective of her sick owner. After some reassuring words from her owner and the sniffing of my hand, she remembered who I was. Then for what seemed like a blink, Seth and I recounted our last week. Filled each other in on what was going on. Talked of future plans. That blink was two hours.
That’s how he and I have always been. For the longest time we have been bonded by an invisible link. We understand each other fully. I believe that if stranded on an island with one person of my choosing, I would take him. The conversations would never tire and time would pass quickly. I don’t like using the term best friend. I have many friends and I think of most of them as best. This is the blessing of my life. I have many “brothers” that I consider the closest of people. Seth is one of the first to join this group in my mind. Some have left it and some have joined; I have no doubt that he will be a permanent member.
During our talking, his sister Rachel texted him to see if he needed anything. We needed someone to drive us to get food. So we summoned her to us. Rachel could be defined as a loving person. Constantly caring and trying to find the best of things for others. So, when she showed up to Seth’s place, convincing her to take us out to eat wasn’t hard. She agreed immediately. It might have helped that the place we suggested had free food for the day.
The rest of the day I won’t go into much detail. I want it to purely remain mine for the time. I will say that we sat for over four hours talking and laughing. It was a true gem and something that with them has happened many times, yet still delights me to the core. What is the point of all this? What if I had let my mind think? What if I had let it be the negative homebody that it wants to be? Then I would have stayed home. Nothing productive would have happened. Isolation never leads to anything of lasting value. Instead I was uplifted. I was allowed to be with those whom I love. Don’t waste opportunities. Reject negative thoughts. Be open to opportunities and never worry about being tired. The time for resting can be found later.