My Enlightenment Journey
Sitting down to write my first blog many thoughts race through my mind. One of the most pervasive is the repeating question of “Why would anyone care about what you have to write about?” Getting past this thought feels like punching through a thick membrane and has prevented me from taking the plunge into blogging previously. Perhaps this time will be different.
If I were to convince you, The Reader, that my words and acts are relevant and worth the effort of keeping up with I would start by suggesting that you and I have much in common… more than ever with almost a year of pandemic lockdown under our belts. We are creatures of habit and routine, going about our daily lives in ways that provide us with as much comfort, stability, and safety as possible. However, we are also Architects, never fully satisfied with our current course. We wish to build new futures, build a name for ourselves, and leave the world knowing we had a positive impact on it. These dueling forces provide me with inner turmoil. I choose to challenge this turmoil with the energy of mindfulness and compassion towards myself and others. I want you, The Reader, to find solace in my blog. To find meaning and insights that can improve your life. And to recognize that these words are not my own as much as they are the continuation of all of the heroes of my life.
If you made it this far past my formal introduction, I commend you 😂 I don’t plan to go on too many tangents like that during my writing but what’s life without a few happy little accidents? It may help you to know a bit about me at this point along with what my general intentions are with this blog.
I am a 36-year-old white man who has squandered many of his opportunities and capitalized on just enough of them to have found myself in a fortunate life in which I have a beautiful wife, a nice home in the suburbs of Washington DC, and a fulfilling job working as a Technical Architect for Microsoft. I consider myself lucky and am eternally grateful for the life I have. I also recognize and ascribe to the fact that much of my current situation can be attributed to White Privilege and wish to understand more of how I can help shape a world where others can be provided the same privileges that have been allotted to me. My “Enlightenment Journey” has been spurred by my wedding a little bit over a year ago along with the goal of starting a family. My wife and I exchanged letters on the day of our wedding and in my letter, I promised to work to be a better man every day that we’re together. I aim to stay true to that promise.
Of all my passions, many of them revolve around a reoccurring theme of intellectual stimulation and/or challenge. When the 9/11 attacks took place it was not enough for me to stand idly by. So I joined the Maryland National Guard as an Infantryman and got deployed to Iraq twice. During that time I was an expert marksman and was entrusted with being the first to learn and train my fellow soldiers on new equipment. It was not enough for me to play guitar, I learned intricate solos to play in front of crowds. It is not enough for me to play video games, I tend to play video games that have a certain amount of intensity and challenge behind them. It is not enough for me to read, I have to read books that I believe will contribute to my betterment and increase my understanding of the world around me. Even when I lose to my wife or her father at Ping Pong, it’s only a matter of time before I’m searching through the internet on ways to up my game. You could say that I am a bit ambitious by nature!
In my search for balance, however, I am learning that many things in life are good enough just as they are. Like spending quality time with my wife and my dog Otis, an adorable mutt that will make many appearances in my writing for sure. Mindful moments when I bring myself into the present with meditation, walks in nature, journaling, and even writing this blog bring me a great deal of joy. And I am making a concerted effort to have the things I engage in have a more casual approach and nature… where it makes sense.
So what will this blog ultimately be about? In my line of work, we often answer questions like this with It Depends. I believe at times I may wax philosophical as I have in this entry. At times, I will share the latest technological thing I have been working on. Maybe I’ll even go a little rogue and share some of the very amateur poetry that I write on occasion. Time will tell. I hope that you will join me on this journey and that I will have the resolve to carry on with this endeavor for as long as possible.