the grass is greener [on the other side of the world]
April 4th, 2007 @ 10:15 am
i’ve noticed from the “introduce yourself” post that quite a few of my blog readers are from australia. i’ve subscribed to their blogs now and with each read i more and more find myself wanting to move there. it’s autumn there, you know.
lately, i’ve also been in touch with some friends from scotland. i even had a lady from an ad agency in edinburgh email me last week asking for my CV (resume) and art portfolio, completely out of the blue. talk about temptation! i sent it along, knowing full well we can’t afford to move overseas, or afford to apply for the HSMP to get our visas.
all of this comes down to my struggle with contentment…being happy where i am at and not day dreaming of far off lands (which i hold in idealistic regard). if money were no issue, and my husband was down with it…i think my dream would be to travel and write for the rest of my life.
Scotland · Travels
alissa said,
April 4, 2007 at 1:19 pm
If I could do anything, money no object? I suspect I’d take a good year off to just bum around New York, drink good coffee, and pursue my own writing seriously; do a stint as a production assistant on a film to get a feel for it; maybe get a Master’s degree; and then go to Paris for three months and write there.
Hopefully by the time the 15 months were over, I’d know what I want to do with my life. ;)
kim said,
April 4, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I would spend as much time as I could with my kids, rather than being at work while they are with someone else…. I would read… pursue writing … have faith discussions with people who aren’t churchy… have enough flexibility with my time that I can help people around me when they need help.
Travel with my family…. travel just with my husband….
ahhhh…. this isn’t helping my own discontentment issues… :)
Kevin said,
April 4, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I honestly don’t know and wish I did. I have struggled with this for some time. Our generation grew up being told that we could do anything we put our minds to and has left many of us disillusioned and discontent. I have long desired to be one of those speakers at the conferences. I started preaching when I was 15, but it has been some time since I was in the pulpit.
Todd said,
April 4, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Do I have any superpowers?
I would go to Uganda, China, India, Syria and the Philippines, learning all I can about the atrocities occurring in those places, come back to America and spend the rest of my life advocating for action from church-folk.
OR
I would hang out at Starbucks, engaging (and changing?) people on a daily basis, through conversation and free coffee.
Deana said,
April 4, 2007 at 4:18 pm
travel and take pictures
Jordan Like the River said,
April 4, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I’d travel and do music for the rest of my life.
I was afraid for a while that, if I really looked honestly at myself, I’d find that my desire to travel was only running from home, or Dallas, or the people who loved me, or some combination of the above.
But, lately, I’ve been growing more and more content with Dallas and Texas, and home, and the people God’s put around me… and that desire to travel still hasn’t gone away. I still want to see the world!
Crystal Renaud said,
April 4, 2007 at 5:09 pm
i’m not good at this because i would just tell you to jump on a plane and do it. i feel incomplete now that i am back in america. i so badly want to go and love on those kids and help those women in south africa. i… miss… it. it seemed like i could almost touch the face of God when i was there.
Emma said,
April 4, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Take photos! (of people all over the world so I could travel too, of course) And maybe write more.
Kean said,
April 4, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I lOVE MY COUNTRY! Australia is the best country in the whole world. I have travelled alot and there is no place that compares. The people, the outback, the city life, the animals.
Come on over Anne, i’ll show you the sights.
juli said,
April 4, 2007 at 10:07 pm
gosh, there’s so many choices. if money were no object, i would quit my job. spend alot of time sleeping in and hanging out with my kid. i would walk my dog more. i would learn to play the piano. i would visit museams (and maybe learn to spell better) and art galleries, i would buy a house boat and float around for awhile. i’d take pictures (because i’d have a really good camera, obviously, since money doesn’t matter). i’d spend alot of time in the library and the book store. (i’d probably have to spend alot of time building book shelves in my house boat, too)
i’d grow vegetables and learn to cook.
yeah, this conversation is not helping my discontentment issues either.
Joni Ruhs said,
April 4, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Travel. Write. Sing. Speak. Encourage families, kids. With my family with me the whole time-except for date nights.Then just Doug.
Bec said,
April 4, 2007 at 10:54 pm
a) search out the reality, although I love my country -Australia - (and it hasn’t always been my country) - the water restrictions suck and you do get tired of it hardly ever raining or being ‘as green as it used to be’.
b) feed the discontentment with some other change.
If I could… like so many others commenting, I’d travel and see all the places I’ve ever wanted to with a camera I clearly can’t afford and record the whole thing (write) at my leisure, I’d stay only for as long as I wanted.
There’s something about commitment though that’s kind of beautiful despite normality in it’s unappealing way. The same goes for relationships, perhaps church and maybe your local neihbourhood. I’m not really the best person to say anything but what isn’t being done where we are.
I have a fantastic quote on my wall about ‘being where you are’ and if I remember, I’ll return and put it up.
If all else fails. Go loose yourself overseas momentarily through a book.
James Petticrew said,
April 5, 2007 at 4:15 am
Follow your dream :-)
(went to see that girl, they wouldn’t let me in as the hospital chaplain had already visited)
breathe fire said,
April 5, 2007 at 8:22 am
Anne, the HSMP is not as expensive as you might think. I’m in the process of applying for the HSMP currently. Ping me offline if you want to talk details. -breathefire.
Paul said,
April 8, 2007 at 1:29 am
I would go to LA, marry Christy Carlson Romano, and live the good life :)
Unka said,
April 9, 2007 at 7:48 am
Of course the grass is always greener somewhere else. That’s what drives ministers away from their current (and problem-filled churches) to consider another church in another place…until they get there and find the same problems they had previously, except everyone has a different name at the new site.
I used to tell people who visited in Hawaii, that at 7 AM, the freeway is still backed up with people getting to work; and at 4 PM, it is still backed up with people trying to get home (and 5, 6, 7 PM, too). Where’s the paradise in that? The trick is still being content where we’re at. God put us there. To be discontent is to be disobedient and unaccepting of what God knows to be best for us at this time.
Sorry to hear about your driver’s license.
Had breakfast with everyone else last Thursday in GP.
Unka Bob
Unka said,
October 30, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Of course the grass is always greener somewhere else. That’s what drives ministers away from their current (and problem filled churches) to consider another church in another place…until they get there and find the same problems they had previously, except everyone has a different name at the new site.
I used to tell people who visited Hawaii, that at 7 AM, the freeway is still backed up with people trying to get home (and 5, 6, 7 PM, too). Where’s the paradise in that? The trick is still being content where we’re at. God put us there. To be discontent is to be disobedient and unaccepting of what God knows to be best for us at this time.
Sorry to hear about your driver’s licence.
Had breakfast with everyone else last Thursday in GP.
Unka Bob