there are adventurers

and there are lifers.  And I could never be a lifer.  Maybe it’s because I have traveled and lived on my own in new places but I would like to think it’s something that’s always been a part of me, embedded deep inside my being, a yearning to explore, to journey beyond where I have been or what I know, to expand my reach and to be totally free, unhindered by any kind of restriction.  This has always been the essence of who I naturally am. 

Nothing troubles me and annoys me more than being stagnant and content, safely comfortable.  There is a whole world out there with millions of opportunities, places to see and be a part of, people to meet, connections to make, roads to memorize, stories to hear and discover and live out.

I knew early on what my passion was.  I never bought into that whole American dream nightmare of just going to school to get a job that pays money so you can support a family and then retire.  My adventurous spirit craves more.  It saddens me to hear grown men and women say things like, “Ah, just one more year until retirement.  I can’t wait!”  They don’t “hate” their jobs, but they certainly don’t like them.  They may be using their skill sets but are they living and breathing their passion, the things that drive and motivate and make them who they are?  Not really..   There’s nothing to look down upon here, these people are hard workers and have sacrificed a lot, I just don’t want to become like them.  I want my passion to define me.  Retirement?  I don’t even want to think about it.   If you only have one shot at this life why not make it totally count?  Why not do exactly what you want to do, what you were made to do.  Why do anything else?  It’s too early to settle, this is just the beginning of probably the most epic journey thus far.  My dream is always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that would be a miracle… or would it?  Would I even want it that way, or am I too in love with the chase and where it takes me? It’s hard to say.

Nevertheless I would rather follow God into a new and uncomfortable place than remain in a place that is no longer life-giving to me.  I love my home and I love my friends but to just settle down there and not take my chances in a world of adventure would be remorseful and I would live with never knowing what could have been.

There’s the journalist in me that craves chasing down a story, getting the inside scoop, asking the tough questions, walking into danger rather than away from it, seeing the job as a service and a duty to get the people the information and let them know the truth about what’s going on.  Journalism is a love and an admiration.  Then there’s the other side of me, the part that thrives on nothing but relentless creativity, creating fiction stories, characters, scenes, screenplays, scenarios, descriptions, allusions and illusions, plots with major surprising twists..  I love when these two loves come together, and you’ll find a lot of my best characters in stories are journalists.  There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, and that’s what I try to do.  The unreal is more powerful than the real, it’s legendary and eternal, unable to wither and die.  Should I go on with just journalism and put my creative side for TheJKinz only, or should I go on to pursue both the journalist and the creative writer?  Nothing holds me back and I feel new doors starting to open and prayers being answered and a path subtly forming and coming to shape before me as long as I keep trusting The One who has never failed me and has gone before me and has great plans..  I’m not exactly sure where yet, but I have a feeling…