ten things I wish to accomplish in the next ten years
I'm unaware of how familiar you are with Levi the Poet, but while I was abroad, he became a good friend of mine. You see, Europe brought me many wonderful things: the ability to embrace independence, the opportunity to wander endlessly, the chance to taste some incredible brews, some of the most fascinating and wonderful people I'll likely ever meet, and countless others. Yes, Europe was astounding in all of it's beauty... but with all of that beauty came some of the darkest days I'll likely ever come to know. And that was when I met Levi.
I waited quietly one night at a bus stop in the dark for bus number 831 to finally arrive to bring me home. I watched airplanes fly over me. I wondered and waited until the day I could finally board mine. At this time I had hit rock bottom; I was the loneliest I had ever been, without a will to fight. On shuffle came the one singular song I had at the time by LTP. It was titled "Dear Pianist". This song saved my life in many ways. From the first number of words he spit out I was stolen away from my depressed state.
His words were raw. They were real. They were dripping with reality and they broke my heart and mended it all at once and I stood there, in my shivering body, dampened by the humid chill but suddenly, I belonged to something. I stood there and I held my breath. I listened to every word, I took good care of all of the brilliant things he had to say. He said a lot of them. At this time, I didn't have a clue what inspired him to write such things. I didn't know a thing about him, but one thing was clear to me; his heart was aching as he spoke.
His honesty brought my weary heart hope. To ache is okay.
I listened to every last poem Levi had to offer. I listened to them endlessly. I didn't listen to any other artist for probably three weeks. On trains, and busses, in stations, during long walks and virtually everywhere else, he spoke to me. I felt like I had made my very first friendship in Europe, and my depression would lift, for I felt like someone understood hopelessness the way I was understanding hopelessness. And although the ache in my heart could not compare to the ache in his (I later found he had lost his father to suicide), I still felt some sort of a connection. Some sort of a hope. That it's okay to be honest with ourselves. It's okay to tell the world you feel hopeless. But mostly what changed my state was when he taught me it was okay to be honest about our hopelessness and doubt with God.
Anyway - that is a very lengthy introduction to what I was initially wanting to begin. I never really expected to exhaust all of that, but it happened, as writing and life both do, and now I will continue.
I began to follow his blog, download his albums, follow him on twitter, Facebook. And recently, he started a string of "Ten Ideas" lists that originated here . I was entirely intrigued, and I decided to challenge myself personally with this as well. So as gloomy as the introduction is, today is the day I begin with Ten Ideas challenge. I simply wanted to give you the backstory on my correlation to Levi, and give credit to those deserving.
Day Number One of My Ten Ideas
1. Learn how to make bread
4. Establish my/our own home - in whatever shape or form that is
5. Find a job I feel accomplished at as well as a job where I can impact people's lives.
6. Read through the bible at least once.
8. Visit the mountains (preferably a lot of times)
9. Beat Grandpa at a game of chess
