Leave

“No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath... We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?" -Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts

Everyone has to leave the place they grew up. The place that was home for so long can only provide the nutrients to support so much growth before the resources are used up, growth stops, and the spirit dries up. For some people that day comes quicker than for others, but in the end, everyone has to leave to develop themself.

Leaving is a rebirthing process. It's a chance to break free from the image people have created and to create themselves. Each new experience creates the individual and staying in the same location limits the amount of experiences a person can have, therefore limiting the development and depth an individual can attain. The repetetivness of having the same experiences over and over again dulls the sences. Changing the scenery forces life to be experienced in a whole new way, sharpening the feelings of joy or beauty experienced.

Staying in the same place provides a one sided perspective of the world. There is only so much of the world that is visible from home. To get an expanded picture, leaving has to occur. Leaving home turns ideas of the outside world into reality by revealing how things really are rather than how they are imagined to be. False perceptions of the world are then shattered and replaced with real knowledge.

Roots will always be in the place that a person grew up, and home will always be there to come back to, but to grow, change, and shine out, new places have to be discovered. The hardest part is making that first move of getting up and going. There are so many options and sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to pick which path to take. The thing to remember is that taking an unintended path will always take the follower to the place that they intended to be. In some weird and unexpected way, things will always work out, it's just a matter of taking that first step and leaving.