Roadtrip Therapy

I just did a big road trip to Vegas and back. I took back roads and saw more of our great open country and was surprised by how much I had been missing. I grew up looking out a car window because my Dad was the kind to toss us in the car with some off the wall destination in mind. I've crossed several boarders in Europe at the wee hours of the morning only to see some air show at a castle, buy cheese at a festival, hike a mountain because it's there or find the oldest church with a brass relieve of a knight from the dark ages.

I haven't been out on the road like this last trip for a few years and I forgot how mentally cathartic it is to stare at the scenery or road and really dig into your own mind to get to know myself again. I had also had a tough and good conversation with my brother while out in Vegas so I had plenty to think about on the way home. On the way out it was a lot of "What the heck do I want to do with my life" type thoughts. Should I just get another job, should I buckle down on a project and see if I can sell it, could I sell everything and move out of the country. All of that and more wound around my brain while staring at an endless line of strips slipping through my lights while barreling down the interstate at 2:00am.

On the way back I swung through Zion, Bryce and Capital Reef National Parks over 3 days and was reminded of how small I really am in the world. We have a lot of amazing country out there and my brain was turned on to so many other options in this world and how I could fit into it.

On my final drive into town I got word that I was skipped over for an opportunity in Denver with a fairly new startup. After this road trip it doesn't matter and quite frankly it is probably for the best as I'm ready for something great to find it's way to me vs struggling to find a right fit somewhere.

The more I read the more I learn. The more I do the better I get.

Reading is one thing, implementing is another thing. You can read a book and glean a lot from it, without practice or practical implementation all you've done is load the data. When we practice what we read and or implement what we read we are actually leveraging new knowledge.

I'm a software developer by trade and practice. I pick up new software or tricks to existing tools in my toolbox on a regular basis. If I read a book, blog post, how to, getting started, etc. it's not until I put code to file and run it that I truly learn something. With software I leverage my experience to learn new software tools and right now I'm digging deeper into NodeJS and am seeing so many different ways to implement that it could be confusing to anyone new to software. New tools and technology are evolving very quickly these days and staying on top of the latest update, paradigm, process or best practice is getting pretty tough.

I don't think a day has gone by that I don't learn something new and in many cases, several things. If everyday is a learning experience then it's a good day.

There will be sand

You created a new application, started a new business, added on to an existing project, painted a room in your house, it doesn't matter what you have done either you or someone will find something you didn't think about or cover. A grain of sand, is that bug or feature that someone else finds. If you are a perfectionist then you may find it before someone else does and even if you patch or fix what you find someone else will still find a flaw in what you deliver. This is ok and should be expected in normal operations. Knowing that the grain of sand will exist means you can more easily adjust as needed to come to a solution that is acceptable. 

On the beach of life, sand will find its way into everything that you do. Having the ability to adjust and work with the sand you find shows how much you can grow in the future.