As far as a plan B being a back-up, my plan B has been going very much according to plan. What was that plan? Well, after getting rejected by every grad school I applied to, I decided to move to Denver, Colorado to try and gain some counseling experience that I could use when I re-applied to grad school in 2020.

My plan was to move to Denver and find a reasonably priced room or apartment near the central city. Then I could work on finding employment working in some type of group home or treatment facility. Considering that I’ve had 2 times in my life where I was unemployed for 4 months, I was prepared for lots of rejections and waiting. I wasn’t prepared for getting a job from one of the first 7 applications I submitted. But, that’s a very good thing, because in a little over 30 days, I had accomplished my plan B, and I was settling in to my new life in Denver.

Plan B 2.0

So what now? What’s my new plan? What’s going to get me back on track with plan A (grad school)? Here are a few of my next steps…

  • Establish a relationship with a therapist in Denver – possibly weekly or less frequently depending on need in my life
  • Find a mentor who I can meet with to discuss career planning and possibilities
  • Practice daily / weekly habits

So, between those steps and my job as a youth treatment counselor, that’s about the best path I can start to forge as I work towards grad school. My biggest challenge? It will probably be financial, as Denver is expensive and I don’t get paid much. But I’m hoping to use my new lifestyle to challenge myself; to consider what is truly important, and what I really need.

And of course there will be flexibility and openness on my part. I confess that I often don’t know what path I am on, but I want to recognize that I AM on a path. A road TOWARDS something, a place, a space that will be better than now. I have no idea what that looks like. But after 37 years of trying to work towards the future that I envisioned, I’m ready to let go and discover what the future will actually be.

Today marks July 1st, which means I have released a new Spotify Playlist – ListenLearnLove. It deviates a bit from my previous naming conventions for this year: Dependence, Reverence, Transcendence, Fellowship, Redemption, Atonement. July 2019 will be the final monthly playlist installation. I designed my playlists around all of the traveling I did. It was a project to rediscover my love of music and dancing. And it worked.

The end?

I’ll continue to make playlists and find new music on Spotify. I’m sure I’ll still put out playlists for special times or new needs. But since I have over 30 playlists (and with most being over 30 songs long), there are over 900 songs that I’ve chosen to represent my time of travel over the past 18 months. It’s a wealth of beautiful, energetic music that will forever remind me of my itinerant lifestyle.

The song for today’s post comes from a previous trinity artist who once again has 3 songs of this playlist. I didn’t think that would be possible since he passed away over a year ago. But Avicii was a prolific artist and had many songs in progress, so a final album came out entitled TIM (Avicii’s real first name). One song in particular drew me in with the simplicity of its desire: Peace of Mind ft Vargas & Lagola by Avicii

Dear Society, you are moving way too fast
Way too fast for me, I'm just tryin' to catch my breathe

Can I get a little peace of mind?
And a little bit of silence to unwind?