Breaking the Routine

More ketchup please. This blog goes back a few weeks back to Seattle, WA. My last afternoon in town I spent with my mom’s cousin Andy and his family. His wife Hannah and I had a great conversation about traveling, breaking the routine, and a continuing education.

In the movie Fight Club, there is a part where Tyler Durden’s character talks about making an annual phone call to his father about, “What do I do now?” He graduates high school, calls dad, what do I do now? Go to college. He graduates college, calls dad, what do I do now? Go get a job. He gets a job, calls dad, what do I do now? Get married. And more than often that’s just how it’s done. Which is fine and dandy, as long as it works for you. It could have worked for me, but I still wanted more.

It seems to be that people are often afraid to break this course, even when they really want to. I’m finding that there are all kinds of unconventional ways to do the same thing you want to do, but taking a different course. And that’s what I’m doing. Hannah was talking to me about how Andy and her quit there corporate jobs and drove around in a Volkswagen van for several months before having their daughter. I suppose I can relate to that need to travel now.

After 12 years of grade school, and five years of college I knew there was still more to learn, my education had to continue at a fast pace before settling into a job. This trip was the answer. There are lessons, experience, and knowledge that come out of traveling that can’t be found anywhere else. They can’t be taught in a class. To put the icing on the cake and to really solidify who I am as a person this trip is necessary. At least to me.

If I found myself talking to a group of high school or college students I would encourage them to break this cycle and that you can take a hundred different paths and end up in the same place to find success, happiness, or anything else you’re looking for. I’m a weird one though, my friends and family can attest to it. I was always competitive in hockey, trying to be different in high school, and dreaming big than the world itself.