The Long View

I've experienced an interesting mental shift in the last six months or so, which has allowed me to (often, but not always) examine my present situation from an outsider's perspective, take stock, and then take a look at how things might be in the future. Now, I've been practicing the first part over the last year or two, trying to remove my emotional attachment to the outcome, or even the process, of difficult situations. It's been pretty successful a number of times, and I can pretty much get myself through just about any situation now by reminding myself that it will eventually be resolved and I will still be alright. But recently I've definitely noticed a trend toward looking to the future and trying to act in such a way now that I provide for myself in some way in the future, I'm not talking just money here, like retirement accounts and the like. I'm thinking life stuff. It's been kind of interesting to watch this unfold in myself, and kind of inspiring at the same time (if it's not too conceited to be inspired by onesself...)

Here are some of the areas I've recently noticed myself looking to the future:

- Seed collecting! I went out to the garden yesterday evening and collected seeds from flowers that have finished blooming for the year, and am keeping my eyes open for seed collection opportunities for the rest of the season. I'm letting some of my peas and beans dry on the pod for collection in the fall, and even keeping my eyes out on my walk to work for interesting flowers and things. The more seed I can collect, dry and store this year, the less I will have to buy for my garden next year.

- In the same vein, I've been thinking a lot about planting trees. I want to have a house some day, and I really want to have trees. But trees take a long time to grow to maturity in terms of shade and/or produce (fruits, nuts, etc.). So, I've been seriously considering trying to start growing some trees in containers over the next several years, so that when I'm ready to "graduate" to a real house, I'll have a head start on my orchard. :) I already have a few apple seedlings growing from seeds from the Santa Cruz apple tree. I don't know if they'll bear fruit eventually, or if it will be any good, but it's an interesting experience.

- Work. I just got hired on as a permanent OHSU employee, doing the same job I've been doing as a temp for the last several months. It's only half-time, and it's not what I want to be doing for my career, and I'm not really making enough money from it to live on, but I accepted the job because it could be a good thing for me in the long run. First off, I'll start getting benefits in 3 months, which will be an excellent thing (they're great benefits!). Secondly, in this position I have access to tons of training and educational opportunities which will help me in future job searches (and current ones, since I'm looking for a second job). And, of course, there's the obvious reason that I pretty much already had the job and I would have been a fool not to accept it and to be completely unemployed once again. Oh, yeah, and they pay me for riding my bike to work - how cool is that? I don't know how long I'll stay at OHSU, but if I end up making some sort of career there, the benefits are excellent for a family, and the children's hospital is superb. Not that I'm planning to have children right away, but remember, I'm thinking long-term here.

I know there are more, but it's my bed time, so I'm going to leave it at that for now. Good night!