I recently began a housesitting job for some folks that have a place outside the city I live in that will last for another month. The property is fairly large and I’m responsible for 13 chickens, a rooster, 3 cats and 7 beehives. I know very little about bees or chickens but I love them both equally and have literally jumped head first into the unknown by saying yes to this endeavor. I’m almost a week in to this venture and have already learned enough to make my head feel a bit heavier with the knowledge I’ve gained (mainly from my chicken/beekeeping friends and YouTube!)
While we can’t always look before leaping, or really know before knowing, what stands out to me most by putting myself into such an unfamiliar place is all that actually *is* familiar. The routine of the day, while now including chicken tending, seeing that one of the cats has his medicine and making sure nothing has attacked the hives overnight, is otherwise not very different than when I’m at home. This is where I find it easier to love that which I don’t know and having more time to be with myself and the natural world has brought parts of me to my surface that I thought I knew but in being more honest with myself understand I only allowed for what I wanted to know – or perhaps was ready to know.
Maybe this is why folks seek to explore different parts of the world so as to see a reflection of a previously unexposed part of themselves. Maybe today you can see what unknown place in yourself needs uncovered and given some time in the sun. Can you go somewhere, either literally or figuratively you’ve never been to today and see what you find? Can you love some part, be it big or small, of what’s left to be known in your life?
I think you can.
TimeSpaceOne 