Many of us have experienced at some point in our lives the process of moving, whether it be from one side of a state to another or from the east coast to the west. When one is a child, moving is arbitrated by the parents. They have determined that relocation will benefit the family, mostly in terms of finances. Jobs beckon them and they answer the call. Although the parents have passed the decree, we, the subjects, have grown accustomed to the kingdom we have dwelt in. It contains our memories, our comforts, our lives. Yet the common rebuttal to our plea comes in the form of the all-too-often comfort of, 'You will make new friends, new comforts'. New resonates inside every response.
Life contains many new experiences hidden inside its bosom, the future. I have moved at least three times in memory and five times in total. I remember the people I grew to call friends and the places that I spent every day accepting as normal but then the future became the present and the present became the past. It seems pretty self-explanatory but as time flows around us, when we are cemented in the comfort of the past, it leads to the dilemma that I present.
The dilemma being the fact that we become comfortable with the past but are always presented with the future. As we grow up, we have to be the ones that make the hard decisions to leave the comfort of the past and embrace the future but that does not need to frighten us. Although the past contains some great joys and experiences, it also contains parts of our lives that we regret. As we move forward, we can leave the regrets of the past. If we trap ourselves in the past, we might retain some of the joys that reside there, but we also are surrounded by the demons that dwell there.
There is no time in life when we can obtain a perpetual state of living, meaning one cannot reach a point in life when they will have removed all the negatives and obtained the best positives. We are always moving. Whether it be going to our jobs, spending a night out with friends, or relaxing from the stress of school and relationships. We always have to move. When we were younger it might have been something as simple as a move to a new house, but as we grow to adulthood it becomes something much more complex. We have to navigate through the web of presidential elections, girlfriends/boyfriends, other friends, work, down time, heart break, love, careers, and, yes, even moving to a new city.
Moving affects our minds, as well as our bodies. As we become older, we see and think about so many more ideas than we considered as a child. The thoughts that entertain us change from being able to stay up late to being able to finally getting a relaxing night of sleep. The thoughts that haunt us, instead of being caught by Mom and Dad transform into ones that might not ever leave the corners of our minds. Moving does not imply a positive or negative connotation but simply states a fact. As humans, we cannot enter stasis. We always are in limbo and it is inside that limbo where we decide what our actions, our movements, produce.
Whether we are moving our bodies to a new city or our minds to the next plane of thought, we are always moving. Life moves very quickly, especially during college. College presents so many opportunities and challenges that being overwhelmed is usually an understatement but moving, even at this pace, produces greatness. When life is moving so quickly the mistakes can be quickly forgotten and left behind, as well as the great things pushing us to move faster to the next goal.
