Wild Geese

This is one of my favorite poems ever. I found it in a book of famous and not-so-famous poetry that I started keeping when I was in high school. I want to add to the book, so if you want to send me any of your favorite poems, please do!

My favorite thing about this poem is that it makes me feel small, making my problems and concerns feel miniscule in comparison to nature. And that’s a really good thing. We can all whine and despair, but “meanwhile the world goes on.” If we waste our time obsessing over our own problems, we may miss beautiful opportunities that are flying all around us. This poem reminds me to love what I love, and to look up in the sky when I’d rather hide inside myself.

 

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

A wordsalad jazzmatron

I told myself I couldn’t have a blog until I had something interesting to talk about. I’m moving out of my apartment on December 17; when people ask me where I’m moving, I have no answer. That’s how I knew it was time to start writing. In a practical way, this blog will be handy while I’m traveling around the world. I’m bringing a laptop with me, so I hope to write often. You can see I added a cute little tab at the top of this page with my itinerary, which I’ll update as we buy more tickets. But writing for me has always been about a lot more than communication, just like how traveling is about much more than getting my picture taken at the Great Wall and the pyramids. I write and travel to explore and to grow. And because I may as well live up to my reputation of being cheesy, I’m calling this entire entity my quest for fabulous.

Somewhere over the past couple of years, I forgot that I was in charge of my life. Maybe it’s the result of leaving college and jumping into the real world; I could rock my small campus, but rocking beyond that was a mammoth task, and I was intimidated. And I’m definitely not alone. Pretty much everyone I know who’s my age has expressed some frustration and confusion about where they are and where they are going. Since we’re pretty new at this adult thing, it’s easy to get caught up in jobs, people, lifestyles that aren’t really you, but seemed like the best option at the time. So I’m cracking this thing open. Months ago when I realized Barack Obama was going to be our next president, I promised myself I’d be there when he’s inaugurated (truly the biggest benefit of living in DC) and then leave this city for good. I’m traveling around the world with Jon for four months, returning to the US in the summer to do whatever, and then starting graduate school for international education in the fall. BAM!

Can you tell I’m excited? I’ve kind of adopted a new philosophy lately: Do what you want. No excuses. I’m 23 years old, I’m educated and healthy, and I have nothing stopping me from doing whatever I want other than fear. Unless you or someone you love has a terminal disease or is in extreme poverty or prison, you have no excuse either. Heck, even people with terminal diseases do incredible things. I see them on the Today Show (all love). This is the most free I will ever be in my life; I don’t have a house or a kid or credit card debt or even a dog. Life looks pretty awesome when you think about it that way, eh? If this thought also makes you want to smack the next college kid or 20-something you hear complaining about how hard their life is, I say go for it. So goodbye to being a whiny 20-something, and hello to the pursuit of fabulous!