"Home?"

Over the past several months, I have been asked "So, where is home for you?" numerous times by all different people.  Not to purposely answer a question with a question, I respond with "What do you mean by home?" The surprise on their faces is priceless.  When most people ask where home is, they generally are implying the area you have an address at or the city you live in based in relative to the people in the conversation. But the nature of this question is very ambiguous and does not reflect the essence of what is really being asked.

The reason why this question is so difficult to respond to may be due to the nature of my career and that I am not always in one place, doing the normal 9-5 job.  In my experience, this question is really is several questions in one, such as: "Where do you spend the most time?" or "Where is your official address?" or "Of the quality time you spend, what, where or who makes you complete or whole?".  Many people relate to the first two questions when they are asking "Where is home for you?", however, very few people account for the last meaning.

In order to experience a Blue Ant's Life, a person must have a good sense of the word "Home". "Home" can be a place, person(s), a thing, time spent or even thoughts, prayers, or spiritual connections. Having a good basis of "Home" frees you to experience everything that you want in life. Knowing that there is something that completes you, give s you a purpose in life to work for and make yourself better. Knowing that there is someone, something, or even a higher calling that you can rely on frees you to be the best person you can be. This is an essential element in a Blue Ant's life.

To answer the obvious question, "What is home for you?", I reply with "Spending time with the person that is most important in my life.  I know that we do not see each other on a daily basis or live in the same place, but it is the quality time that we get to spend with one another.  She is a wonderful individual that challenges me to be a better person.  My hope is that I am her home too, making her better person, showing her that she is loved, and that the time we spend together is meaningful to her as well."

Having no feeling of home can be a very lonely feeling.  Life the Blue Ant's Life and investigate deep inside yourself, find what makes you whole.

Breaking the Vicious Cycle

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."

~Woodrow Wilson

This may not be the case for everyone, but, for me, the monotony of "The Daily Routine" is something that has plagued me for most of my adult life.  In college, life is a little more relaxed, waking up for the two classes you have for the day, studying in between, and having a lot of free time to socialize and try new and interesting things.  Granted, the work in college is challenging, but the freedom in which you set up the day is truly one of the best advantages someone can get out of college, besides an education of course.

.....And then comes the "The Real World".  The first real job where someone has the set scheduled time you come in, work, have lunch, work and leave.  Day in and day out, for six years, this was my life.  Just like everyone else, I would get up for work, drive in, work all day, come home and go to bed, just to wake up and do it all over again the next day.  Granted, I found activities to occupy my free time, doing things that made me happy or spent time with loved ones.  Despite this, I found myself feeling trapped, trapped in this vicious cycle of "nothing is going to change for me" mentality. The first step in breaking the vicious cycle is to identify what it is that makes you feel unhappy and evaluate what components are the key drivers.  

The second step to breaking the cycle is to look for an inspiration.  Sometimes you just need a little inspiration, whether that comes from something that you read about, or comes from one of the most unlikely sources.  My inspiration came from someone that I met from a complete random occurrence.  As improbable as was that we met, the impact at this person has had on my life borders on awe-striking.  If I would have thought at that moment to keep walking and not stopped to talk with this person, where I would be now. She inspired me to look at the world from a different perspective, helped me step out of my comfort zone, and opened my eyes to love again.  This person opened my eyes to so many things and I am eternally indebted to her for this. 

The final step in the process is to step out of your comfort zone and do something that completely disrupts the cycle.  Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would ever travel to a foreign country, let alone one where I spoke very little of the language, and feel comfortable doing so.  I remember my attempt at navigating the foreign international airport to change airlines to my domestic flight.  Although, it was a seemingly small task for most people, I felt a great deal of accomplishment and satisfaction in having the confidence of being able to do it and accomplishing it.  Every  time I look back at these pictures I realize the beauty, fun, and excitement I would have missed out on if I hadn't.

Winston Churchill once said "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often" so go out and live a Blue Ant's Life!

Inaugural Post: Why "A Blue Ant's Life"?

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."

~Woodrow Wilson

We are continually inundated with the idea of "We must".  It begs the question "We must what?" Whether we realize it or not, the message of "We must abide, follow, and do as the norm in social standards dictate" is a powerful social pressure to adhere that impacts everyone.  

When I was contemplating the focus of this blog, I thought deeply about the my major life experiences, the time I have spent, and my accomplishments.  I consider myself a pretty normal guy; I college graduate, with honors. I started a great job out of school and started a budding career.  Since then, I have had a couple transitions in work, but, for the most part, pretty much have a normal life.  In my personal life, I have experienced love, loss, and found love in another.  Just like everyone else, I try to stay in shape, and I have hopes of going back to grad school. For all intents and purposes, I am the average, normal everyday Joe that people come to expect from an American male in his 20's. 

Inevitably, the realization that I will be leaving my 20's and the evaluation of how the past decade has gone hits me like a ton of bricks. During a breakfast with a former coworker and good friend, this metaphoric ton of bricks woke me from my slumber.  My slumber was of indifference or the acceptance of my current life and the unwillingness to make changes out of fear of the unknown.  As we sympathized with the same realization, We came to the conclusion that we both had "Wasted a lot time." This reminiscing became a catalyst in defining the focus of this Blog.  

It was apparent to both of us that we had become ants in this world.  Programmed or conditioned to think and behave that we find a steady job, work to support our "You're only as important as the amount of things that you have" society markets. We had become ants out of indifference (that we work for a paycheck and no new job or activity is ever going to change that) and fear (of the unknown, uncertainty of branching out, being different, or wanting more nonmaterial things from life).

Unhappiness is nothing to be taken lightly, and I ignored it for far too long.  Over the past two years, I met someone that opened my eyes to throwing caution to the wind and being fearless in the face of uncertainty, which has been truly inspiring.  In many ways, this person has introduced me to many new experiences and has demonstrated to me how to wake up from my slumber.  

As we all know, ants are regimented and comply with the "follow the leader" mentality to accomplish the same goal.  In this Blog you will read the recurring theme of breaking free from a life of indifference and monotony. For the eternal pessimists, this is not a blog of new years resolutioners and how to succeed, but it is more about lifestyle change. It is not a message of "I would like to do this" more rather "I am changing my life".  I do not have the exact quote, however,  the theme of works with the thought "We are not guaranteed tomorrow, so live your life to the fullest every day." You don't have to be the black ant, marching in order.  Go rouge, explore new places and trying new things large or small is living the life of a blue ant.

Portuguese Translation:

Post Inaugural: Por que "A Vida da Formiga Azul" (The Life of a blue ant)?

"Você não está aqui apenas para ganhar a vida. Está aqui a fim de permitir que o mundo viva mais amplamente, com maior visão, com um espírito de esperança e realização. Está aqui para enriquecer o mundo, e você se empobrece se esquecer esta missão."

~ Woodrow Wilson

Somos continuamente inundados com a idéia de que "Nós devemos". Isso levanta a questão "Nós devemos o quê?". Quer percebamos ou não, a mensagem é que "Devemos respeitar, seguir e fazer o que a norma dos padrões sociais nos dita", é uma poderosa pressão social que impacta a todos.

Enquanto eu contemplava o foco deste blog, pensei profundamente sobre as minhas grandes experiências de vida, o tempo que gastei e minhas realizações. Eu me considero um cara muito normal. Me graduei na faculdade com todas as honras. Consegui um ótimo trabalho assim que me formei e comecei a construir uma carreira. Desde então, mudei de trabalho algumas vezes mas, na maior parte do tempo tive uma vida normal. Na minha vida pessoal, eu experimentei amor, perda e encontro do amor em outra pessoa. Assim como a maioria das pessoas, eu tento me manter em forma e tenho esperança de começar uma pós-graduação. Para todos os efeitos, eu estou dentro da média do que as pessoas esperam de um homem norte-americano em seus 20 e poucos anos.

Inevitavelmente, a percepção de que eu estou deixando meus 20 e poucos anos, e a avaliação de como vivi na última década, me atinge como uma tonelada de tijolos. Durante um café da manhã com um ex-colega de trabalho, e um bom amigo, esta tonelada metafórica de tijolos me acordou do meu sono. Meu sono foi de indiferença, ou a aceitação da minha vida atual, e a falta de vontade de fazer mudanças pelo do medo do desconhecido. À medida que compartilhavamos da mesma percepção, chegamos à conclusão de que ambos tínhamos "desperdiçado muito tempo". Esta memória se tornou um catalisador para a definição do foco deste Blog.

Era evidente para nós dois que havíamos nos tornado formigas neste mundo. Programados ou condicionados a pensar e se comportar de maneira a encontrar um emprego estável, trabalhar para corresponder ao que nos diz nossa sociedade de consumo"Você é tão importante quanto a quantidade de coisas que você tem". Nós nos tornamos formigas pela indiferença (nós trabalhamos por um salário e nenhum novo emprego ou atividade jamais vai mudar isso) e pelo medo (do desconhecido, da incerteza de mudar de rumo, de ser diferente ou querer da vida coisas menos materiais).

A infelicidade não é algo para se aceitar tranquilamente, eu isto ignorei por muito tempo. Nos últimos dois anos, eu conheci alguém que abriu meus olhos para possibilidade de atirar o medo pela janela e ser destemido em face da incerteza, o que tem sido verdadeiramente inspirador. De muitas maneiras essa pessoa me apresentou a muitas novas experiências e me mostrou como acordar do meu torpor.

Como todos sabemos, as formigas são arregimentadas e suguem a mentalidade do "siga o líder" para realizar o mesmo objetivo. Neste Blog o tema recorrente será se libertar de uma vida de indiferença e monotonia. Para os pessimistas eternos, isso não é um blog de "Resoluções de ano novo" e como ter sucesso em realizá-las,  este bloc é sobre mudança de estilo de vida. A mensagem não é "Eu gostaria de fazer isso" mas sim "Eu estou mudando a minha vida". Eu não tenho a citação exata, no entanto, o pensamento é o seguinte "O amanhã não é garantido, então viva sua vida ao máximo todos os dias". Você não tem que ser a formiga preta, marchando em ordem. Libertar-se do lugar comum, explorar novos lugares e experimentar coisas novas, grandes ou pequenas, é viver a vida de uma formiga azul.