I’m sitting on a sparsely populated 737-400 headed to Seattle for the night. Tomorrow it’s on to Boston and eventually Turners Falls, MA. for a visit to the Hallmark Institute of Photography. Observations, tours, and questions will abound.
Much to my chagrin, Heather is back in Juneau, likely just settling in for her evening of productivity. 😉 I think this is the longest time away from one another in the last year… I’ll be missin’ her for sure! Fortunately I get back on Thursday. Trust me, I’ll be counting the days!
While I zip along through the air, I can’t help but wonder what I’ll find on the east coast. Today I was asked a couple different times if I’m excited to be taking the trip to see the school and each time I respond with a relatively uninspiring, “yeah, sure…” It’s not that I’m not excited to travel and see new things, but I think the perpetual weight of deciding to go to school or not continues to press upon me and I’m feeling it.
When I get down to the bottom of the feeling, I think it’s got something to do with the fact that I’m scared.
Being the analytical dude that I am, I can rationalize just about everything… But here’s the crux; do I want to? For the purposes of this writing, I’m reduced to the pro/con approach of determining the next step of our lives.
Pros (reasons to head to HIP):
New adventure
Immersed in Photography
Increased freedom (perception)
Heather “retired”
Heather have chance to self-study
Expand photography network
School expenses paid up front (no debt)
No “work” for the year
Explore the east coast
Currently uninspiring future with UAS (perception)
New friends
Fits with family plans (easier to do now than with kids)
Cons:
Loss of income
Loss of stability
Loss of security
Drain pension/savings
Unknown future
Distraction from AG
UAS loses talent
No health insurance
Lose foothold in Juneau networks
Hard to be gone from “home”
Scary
Hey babe, just a quick note to add to the pros: it inspires you to push yourself, to dream and to work for it. I’m proud of you!
Cody, you can turn the cons to pros:
1. increases security and stability with increased education in a specific field (think like grad school)
2. the future is always unknown, isn’t it? just getting on a plane is taking a chance your life may be changed forever
3. don’t worry about UAS – no one there is irreplaceable
4. you can always keep networks together with a little effort
5. it’s good to leave home and experience new things and grow – you become stagnant if you don’t
6. scary? it’s also good to leave your comfort zone – life is going to throw a lot of curves at you – you’ll to have to face them straight on and deal with them – might as well sratr now