Ever find yourself walking somewhere only to realize you have forgotten where you are going and why? In that moment, you decide to either continue walking, turn around to go back where you came from or find that there is some place better for you to go. That is exactly what happened to me during the pandemic.
Like many people I worked remotely and found myself questioning where I was going, as if walking through a fog in a familiar place. For years I had lived a life that was somewhat predictable. Wake up, make myself presentable, traffic, find the perfect parking space, coffee, work, meetings, gossip, caffeine, more traffic, workout, dinner, shower, sleep, repeat. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t unhappy; I was comfortable. But, being comfortable is something that doesn’t sit well with me. Comfortable to me means I have restricted myself to an imaginary box, and there is no reason to try and see what’s beyond the boundaries. This is like a death sentence for a person who has a curious nature. Anyhow, that is where my mind was during pandemic, so I decided to make myself uncomfortable.
It was interesting how as soon as I became “uncomfortable” my mind and heart seemed to finally sync up. Fond childhood memories of traveling to Mexico where cactus is a predominate part of the scenery, my love for eating nopales and desire to be outside is what landed me on the idea of planting nopal. It took a little while for my mind to finally catch up, but once I started going down the research path I realized that there are no visible boundaries for where I can go with this. Now I live “outside the box” and although it may be “uncomfortable” at times, it is exciting!
