At the risk of sounding a bit kooky (even though I am certain that many other people do this), sometimes when I need guidance, I say a prayer, let the Bible fall open, and read the first verse to which my eyes are drawn. The vast majority of the time, this provides a relevant piece of counsel and relevant inner peace as well.
A few months ago, I was deciding whether to stay in my familiar mountain west U.S. or to move to the Gulf Coast. My indecision was because I wanted to stay near family and the life I wanted to live in my home states, but no jobs were panning out, and a year+ after being laid off and a nomadic traveler, I am eager to get back to the workforce. So I concentrated very hard and asked my Higher Power for guidance, “Should I stay or should I go, Lord?” but instead of the Bible, my hand inexplicable reached for The Norton Anthology of Poetry.
I picked up my copy of this most comprehensive collection from McKay’s in Knoxville, Tennessee, one of the best used media stores ever! But you might have pilfered a copy from high school AP English or lamented dragging it to that required liberal arts class in college. More than a thousand pages, it could have fallen open to any of my favorites like Frank O’Hara, Pablo Nerdua or Alexander Pope. Instead, my guidance came from the sultan of sonnets, playwright-extraordinaire William Shakespeare.
It wasn’t a sonnet that drew my eyes but a poem from the play, Twelfth Night. It was almost too perfect of an answer, in fact, to my question of staying or going. Note the plethora of travel references!
O Mistress Mine
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
O Mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O, stay and hear; your true love’s coming,
That can sing both high and low:
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man’s son doth know.
What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies not plenty;
Then, come kiss me, sweet and twenty,
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
But, I was looking for an excuse to move to the beach! But life continued, and it just didn’t make sense to leave right away anyway. I helped my family, reconnected with many dear people, and was in limbo for some job prospects. Besides, I took the poem to indicate that my “true love’s coming” so I figured I better stick around for him!
Then last week, it all came together professionally. I’ve been offered a customized position with a company in my most recent city, the place I really wanted to make my place again even though I was open to moving and had even applied in 44 other states. Everyone I’ve met at my new workplace so is full of enthusiasm, passion and positivity. I daresay that I’ll be working with the most dynamic, innovative and entrepreneurial people I’ve ever met. I can hardly wait for this incredible opportunity. Thank goodness I hadn’t yet traded my snowboots for a surf board. I have kept faith all this time that God would put me in the right place at the right time for the right new job, and I truly believe this is it.
Every other time I’ve moved as an adult, it has been for romance. Either I hoped to make things work with someone, or in the case of my last big move three years ago, it was to escape someone, a controlling ex. Goodness, a little over a year ago I even planned to join the ex-pat club for a foreign amour. Obviously, these moves-for-love work for some people, but it’s time I make the big decision about where to live based on what is best for me, not what I hope is best for a possible (and currently non-existent) “we.” This is the first time ever that I have completely chosen where to be based on logic and my career.
Well, mostly logic… a prayer and a poem!
Thank you to all who’ve encouraged and supported me throughout this journey I’ve been on, through losing my job, traveling to at least 9 countries and 30 states, and now back home. The poem says that “journeys end in lovers meeting,” but for me, this is about loves, without the “r.” I will always be a traveler; this experience has changed me so deeply, and every day I carry with me what I’ve learned in 18 months on the road. That time of constant journeys is ending, but this is the start of an incredible new journey, loving my new career role, my new/old city, and my newest chapter of life.
Your voice matters!