Harvesting Life

Content for this post has been swimming around and around in my head for weeks now. I hope writing will give my thoughts more cohesiveness and structure.

To give some background to my thoughts, I want to share a bit about my short life. I write this as a 26 year old struggling entrepreneur and volunteer. Im not working in the field I graduated in and have had 2 professions unrelated to my university degree since my graduation from the university. 

In my naïve head, I envisioned graduation from the university seamlessly melding into an international career, a family and ‘Saving the World’. Come to find out, that’s not how it works, not for anybody! I have just finished reading a Business/ Personal Development book titled “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olsen. He adequately states “Success does not happen in a sudden quantum leap. There are no quantum leaps in life.”

 

I wanted the harvest. Or I wanted the planting, harvesting, and cultivating without struggles, confusion, anxiety, course change, and dead ends. That not how the harvest works though. Some of your planted seeds will die, some will struggle for survival the whole season. Some seeds you plant will be nourished and flourish. BUT If you don’t plant any seeds, you will have nothing to reap. Unfortunately the growing season rarely is seamless too. It comes with droughts, floods, broken hoes and equipment, long, hot, sweaty days of pulling out the “weeds” that pop up trying to suck the nutrients away from your seeds. The harvest of a bountiful reaping never can come from a quantum leap. Its comes from daily tending to your seeds. A successful harvest comes from daily water, daily sun, daily weeding, and nightly rest. Even then, some harvests will still fail altogether, and all you have to show is your care, your work, your diligence and what was cultivated inside of YOU, you the gardener.

I have had to plant the ‘seeds’ of a few different ‘crops’, most of which bystanding eyes would call ‘failed crops’, for the only harvest to show for is the harvest of change within me.    

Whether it be in your formal careers, your relationships, your health and wellness, your spirituality, or other interests. This same principle applies. You can’t get away from being the gardener of your own destiny. So plant the seeds. Start. Yes, some, many, or most  of the crops you plant will fail. But look at stats, the gardener who plants and tends to and harvests more, in the long run, reaps more.

Trippy

Chilean schools start early. Really early. Like 7:45 a.m. early. Thus meaning I have to leave my house at 7:00 a.m. to make it there on time. But being the sleep lover that I am, I have had a tendency to leave my house at the very last moment possible while still making it on time. The consequence: running instead of walking. Many mornings I have left my apartment in the dead of dark on a full out sprint. Im sure its quite a sight for the few people up and out at this hour, imagine it, a tall white gringa running through the pitch black streets with a big backpack, a thermal full of tea and usually some sort of project in hand. haha. I proabably have given quite a few people a good scare. Anyway, it just so happens that along the sidewalk I use, there is a crack (well there are many many cracks due to all the earthquakes that occure in this area, but one in particular), only about an inch step up but for some reason I can't seem to pass by it without tripping. Running and tripping together make for one hard fall. The first I fell, I was annoyed with my self, the second time I tripped over the same exact crack and fell I was mad (especially because the bread I was holding fell butter side down!) But the third time I tripped on the exact same crack in the cement I just felt defeated. I ripped my dress pants, my thermals and through my skin too! No more running to work for me. I vow to wake up 2 mins earlier from now on.

Diversifunion

It may well be quite possible that I wasn't born the the "blogging" gene. Turns out im not consistent. Not with blogging, to be honest not with a whole lot in life. But its's midnight here in Chile and I have nothing better to do than blog some random note for all you perusing the internet to read. Hopefully its worth the 3 mins you spend on my site.
Yep, you read right, im in Chile duing a sort of study abroad. The laugh of the day goes like this...
Imagine being in Chile (along the coast)
Imagine sitting around listening to Pat Benetar "Love is a battlefield" in said Chile(and other such songs of the same genre) with a family of people you barely understand.
Add to that being in a Peruvian/ Chinese/ Thai/ Japanese/ Sushi restaurant eating a bit everything.
On top of all of that add awkwardness only I seem to be able to conjure up, and my ungracefullness at every fancy meal setting. haha. provided for one of the most interesting lunch meals my stomach has consumed in a long time.
Love the awkward moments in life.

Finally a Return of the Writer

I've been obviously out of the whole blogging world for a long time. But I'm back, at least for today...... So the goofy moment I thought I could share happened during a presentation on Technology in one of my summer classes. The presenter posed the question "How big is your flash drive?" Without even raising my hand I said (in dead honesty) "about the size of my thumb." The presenter responded by saying  "no, about 2 gigs." hahaha. I felt so embarrassed I just laughed out loud. hahaha. I don't think my teacher has liked me very much since that day.

Idaho Moments

Every time I visit my nephews and niece in Idaho I always have funny moments to come home with. Here the goofy snapshots from the last 2 trips.

Sophie  (age 4) "Kate I memorized a scripture, John 3:16: For God forgot the world that....." I was rolling on the floor, hahaha, she couldn't even finish.

Sophie: We were looking at a pciture of a frumpy fat old librarian with thick glasses and a short boy haircut and she turns to me and says "Hey Kate its you" dead serious. haha. Good to know what impression I leave on her.

Sophie: We're making dinner one night and she turns to her mom all of the sudden and asks "Mom, What color do you think my wedding dress will be?"

Sophie: We were watching a movie and a couple kissed and she turns to me and says "Kate, you need to find one of those" all matter of factly. ha. She's so right. If only you "found" that sort of thing.

Tanner (age 10) "My friend has to brush his teeth every day or they turn yellow!! His mom makes him brush everyday, can you believe it" [How boring] haha. To add more... I looked over and his teeth were bright yellow. haha.

They crack me up, especially Sophie. Oh how I love to be around them....

There's a first for everything!!!

Somebody asked me a computer question and I actually was able to HELP them!!!!!!!!!!! This deserves its own post!!! It was in Excel and I actually new something more than someone else!!!!! What a dawning of a new day. Maybe this tech class is really helping me!!!!