Stagnant

Wow.  It has apparently been 8 months since my last post.  Truth be told I sort of became disinterested with blogging.  Add to that the fact that I haven't really had much to share, and that has left me with a lonely blog.

For those who don't already know I have been laid off from my job for the past few months.  So, I have spent more time than I would like sitting doing nothing.  Its not uncommon for me to go days without leaving my apartment.  Sad, I know.  Being unemployed I'm scared if I leave the house I will spend money I don't have.

All this down time has also given me much time to think.  I've sort of come to the realization that I need to do something with my life.  I sort of feel like lately I'm not even almost living up to my potential.  I'm not necessarily talking professionally, but just in general.  I feel like I have something to offer the universe that could possibly make a difference.  And really, I'm not getting any younger here (yes I realize I have plenty of years left), if I don't start making changes now, taking chances, and seizing opportunities, then when will I?

A few weeks ago my mother mentioned to me that I should look into taking a mission trip.  I sort of scoffed and shrugged off her suggestion.  Then today a friend sent me the link to a website that facilitates international volunteer trips.  Again my initial reaction was to shrug it off.  I can't very well go galavanting around foreign lands for who knows how long.  I mean, I have bills to pay.  But then I realized, a trip like this would be the opportunity to travel AND spend some time volunteering.  Interesting.  If I'm going to spend the money to go on vacation anyway, then why not? I've always said if/when I travel the idea of just sitting on a beach sipping cocktails does not sound like the best use of my time.  Don't get me wrong, if someone called and said they bought me a ticket to Cancun to bask on the beach for a week I would absolutely take it.  But it isn't top on my list of things to do.  I've always said I'd rather travel, take in the culture, the architecture, the customs of the locals.  THAT sounds like a great experience to me.

So, I browsed the website and I browsed it some more.  And I found them on Facebook, and then I looked up their videos on youtube.  And something in this video just hit me: Volunteer in Kenya I don't know how to explain it but it's like this video reached out and grabbed me.
As I browsed through the website I realized I was drawn to Kenya, Uganda and Ghana with Costa Rica coming in 4th.  I have no idea why but I've always wanted to go to Africa.  When ever discussions of travel come up I always throw out the usual suspects: Greece, Italy, anywhere in Europe basically.  And I always follow it up with "and I'd LOVE to go to Africa".  That usually earns me some funny  looks.  I can't explain it but I'm drawn to it.

And now, here I sit wondering if this is something I should do?  I'd somehow have to come up with a couple thousand dollars to fund my trip, but if I'm going to spend money to travel anyway, I might as well jump in with both feet and donate some of my time to assisting the locals, to making a difference.  It would be mutually beneficial: I'd give my time to assisting the local communities, meeting some amazing people, and I'd learn so much and would have an amazing experience.  Obviously I'd have to look further in to it, but it sounds like such an incredible opportunity.  If I decided to do this it wouldn't be until next year (2014), likely fall, so that would give me a year and a half to fund raise.

I've got lots to think about it seems.

Funny, after I initially posted this, I noticed the Quote of the Day (see it there to the right of my little blog screen?) was: "Experience is the teacher of all things." -Julius Caesar