A Defining Moment
by Liv | Published on May 30th, 2009, 7:02 pm | Life
Let me talk personal again for a moment.
I've had a lot of defining moments in the last two years. Pivotal experiences which have shaped my life. As many of you know much of it has come from traveling and visiting Europe, the death of family members, or my own personal struggles which have shaped me in to the person I am. I'm one of the people whom if they met themselves just a few short years ago would be unrecognizable, yet here I am. In flux, in a constant state of change.
So I got to thinking about a recent defining moment which I think I've failed to mention on Greensboring, and felt it was worth sharing. It's sort of odd, in that this person doesn't know who I am, nor I know her real identity. It was a serendipitous meeting of chance, but it shaped my outlook, it inspired me.
For those who aren't regulars to the Greensboring Dogma, and Liv's life... then let me catch you up. I'm in London, just had oral surgery to rip four wisdom teeth from my face because they infected the sinus cavities and made my face swell to the size of a watermelon at my grandmother's funeral when my employer calls me as I watch the casket get loaded in to the hearse to tell me "I've been fired". Now you know why I went on vacation, why I was so happy to get back to London... quite frankly.... we needed it. It's not as though I planned on going, but one night after watching "Lost" when Shepherd says "We've got to get back to the island", the first thing that popped in my head was Britain, and I immediately turned to Shannon and said "That's it", "We're going back!" She responds "Where?" The next thing you know we're back on a 767, the same flight we flew the year before and back on 'our island'.
So enough with the back story... So I'm unemployed, in London, and basically throwing caution to the wind. I really couldn't care to be honest... I didn't have a plan, I couldn't care. That's when we we're walking around Shepherd's Bush Market.... Yes... "Shepherd" as in "Jack Shepherd", or "Shepherd to lost sheep", or.... well, never-mind! That's when we happened upon a young girl wielding about eight swords in a leotard balancing herself upside down on a make-shift trapeze bar held up by four audience volunteers holding ropes. Mind you, she was doing this all to the theme song of flash dance. Here was someone earning a living off of their art, doing something they loved. Earning money without a boss, or a cubicle. What's more is she was doing something dangerous, juggling swords! A month prior I would have been scared to call in sick at work because I was afraid of losing my job.... now mind you, then I was very unhappy.... but here... tossing swords, trusting complete strangers... this woman was completely happy... and it inspired me and I was happy.
It was that moment. That defining moment that I've come to realize the concept that life without living, wasn't really life at all. Even the mere happenstance of my arrival to be present at my epiphany made me felt more human than the empty hours spent inside my cubicle at my former employer.
I may not go tossing swords and knifes around, but I've learned something which I think a lot of people, especially those who are out of work in these times could use.... No matter what job you lose, what house you lose, no matter where you find yourself don't lose the truly only important thing you really need... you.