Growing Roots, No Matter the Soil
How do you grow roots and create meaningful friendships when you move and/or travel a lot? Or honestly, when life is just up in the air? I get it all the time, “How do you do it? I would be so anxious.” Because of my husband’s profession, my life can be a little cray-cray. We live in one place for about 4 months, then back home for a few months, then to a new city for a couple of months and repeat. The whole time, wondering if he will have a job.
No matter your situation, life is full of uncertainty. Here are some things I intentionally strive to live by as we take on each new adventure:
- Don’t hold back. Enjoy the moment, no matter the circumstance. (Especially when it comes to new friendships. Make friends! Connect with people.)
- Hug it out … with everybody. Show people you care. Love on your family, friends and even strangers! For example, I loved my grocery bag sacker when we lived in Detroit! I always went on Wednesdays because I knew Joseph was going to be there. Even though I called him Patrick for like 3-weeks, but he forgave me.
- Embrace change. Because, let’s be honest, most of the time you gotta do it anyway. So why not make the best of it, right?
- Don’t gripe. Just don’t do it, no matter what. No one likes being around a Negative Nancy. Find the good in every situation, it’s a game changer.
Life is full of curve balls. We can strike out or hit a home-run. You will never hit the home-run unless you swing.
There are 4 comments
Living in the moment us HUGE! The perfectionist me is always thinking ” this is great”.. but really fearful of the “what if???” I’m working on this .. we ALL live with uncertainty, it just looks different for each of us. Thanks for a great reminder this morning .
Exactly, Ann! If we could only let go of the “what if’s” and let the Lord figure those out for us — we would live in so much more freedom! He always works it all out.
This is so true. I learned this lesson the hard way. In the last place we lived, I invested fully, and we were only there one year. I was so bitter about leaving that I held back when we moved to our current home. It’s now been nearly three years and I’m just finally starting to form valuable friendships here. Yikes! Of course, now I’m wishing I’d let it go and made the best of the situation much sooner.
Oh girlfriend, I’ve been there. Such a hard lesson to learn! I am so glad you are starting to find true friendships in your new spot. Even if it’s been three years … better late than never!