Comments on: Living our lives, or just our roles?

By: westi

westi — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:12:36 +0000

Hi Heather,
Thanks for your comment. I am always touched to hear that people enjoy reading my blog and find it helpful. The beauty of a blog is that it reaches both my friends/family and the Internet at large, allowing our thoughts to reach much further. So please, keep reading, keep commenting. I’m glad you’re here. Welcome! =)

By: heather

heather — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:26:59 +0000

i hope you don’t mind, seeing as i don’t know you, that i read your blog and enjoyed it quite a bit. i admire your thought process-you use a method that promotes more thoughts rather than dead-ends. it helps to figure things out that way because like you so eloquently pointed out – we all play roles and it gets difficult to view things from a fresh perspective sometimes. so, thanks. and i hope you don’t mind me reading your blog.
heather

By: westi

westi — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:13:26 +0000

Hi Amy,
I too grew up (and still live) in an amazing place where others pay a fortune to live, California’s Central Coast. And much like your experience with NYC, I appreciate its awesome beauty and everything it has to offer, but never really chose it for myself. I think part of my dreaming of Taos or NYC is to breakout and choose a place I love uniquely, not because others told me I should.

I’m glad to hear that others recommend looking back to your simple childhood pleasures to discover what you might enjoy now. I too look back to my childhood and remember always wanting to go camping (which we did, quite a lot, aided by my Dad’s kayaking career). In the last year my hubby and I have transformed our lives to make the outdoors a greater part of everything we do, purchasing a home surrounded by redwoods, and then a popup camper for the quick camping get away (if you haven’t already, check out my posts from May to see our trip around the West, didn’t make it to Wyoming though, next time!). Both have made us happy, and now we dream of even bigger land in more seclusion. We only know what we want by looking further and further into our hearts ignoring what our roles might be telling us we’re “supposed to do.” And aren’t you tired of “supposed to”? I certainly am.

Thanks for the nice response Amy. =)

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 05:43:06 +0000

Enjoyed this post. I question this often. Am I making a decision based on what I think I should be doing or what I actually want to do. I am getting better at this process, but it is hard to break old habits no matter how much yoga, and meditation (still working on making this a regular practice) I do.

Having spent the majority of my life in New York and Jackson Hole, WY, the end of your post was quite a perspective.
“And if I really didnâ€™t have any roles or commitments, move to NYC or Taos, New Mexico.”

What is interesting is the way I ended up here in Jackson Hole …

At 25, I was living in NYC (grew up near by), and questioned what in the world I was doing there. I read about how you should “Look back to your childhood and remember what made you happy … simple pleasures”. I spent my summers in the green mountains of Vermont as a kid, and felt this sense of peace just thinking about it. The mountains were magical for me … and still are. It took me a while to make it happen, but I moved here to Jackson 10 years ago, and have never looked back. Never stop exploring your passions!