Around a year ago I was trekking in mountains along the Turkey-Georgian border watching bull fights and swimming in glacier lakes 10,000 feet up. Today, I sit in a coffee shop jobless with no means to gaze on mountains, seas, or really anything except the brick wall five feet in front of me. Maybe if I didn’t spend so much money on coffee I could travel, but that’s debatable.
In the last month every single aspect of my life has changed or at least the majority of them. First, I got married to a beautiful, enchanting woman who shocks me with her support in everything I do. We had plans to move to her home country of South Korea but a job fell through and now we find ourselves back in the twin cities, where we graduated a year ago. We squatted down in our first small and awkward apartment together, and she landed a job immediately while I did not.
Realistically I’d like to be sailing, mountain biking in the Korean countryside, cliff-diving, or something that makes my pulse beat faster than it does when I drink too much coffee. However, I’ve come to a realization that we live a life of seasons. We have seasons of triumph, failure, joy, and heartache — all shaping us into the individuals that we are today. An immense amount of that shaping has been done in me in the past four years as I explored countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. It was a season that will never be forgotten, nor should it be, but that season is now on hold.
When I hear the word adventure, my mind travels to the events I stated earlier that I wish I could be doing, but in a way I believe the explanation of adventure can be subjective. Truthfully, I haven’t had quite an adventure like I’ve had the last month as I’ve learned the basics of living with my wife, arguably the most challenging adventure yet. I have hopes of jumping on an airplane and exploring more of the world one day, but I know that the season for that is not now, or at least not that type of adventure. As a man I long for adventure, but if my focus is elsewhere in this pivotal time in life, it will become a season of gloom, not of joy. Being content in whatever situation we find ourselves in is tricky, but patience is key.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevean philosopher, writer, and composer had a wonderful quote that I go back to often, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
While this season my seemingly be bitter, I know the fruit shall be sweet. In time, when I have the means for adventure outside of this city, it will be all the greater. Until that time, the fruit of my focus here will be happy wife giving me a season of joy.
Words and Images by: Christopher Kipp