Deep corporate cleansing

This weekend I grew stir crazy on the farm and ran off to London, winding up at a hostel with strangers as diverse as the United Nations. London did not disappoint, but the part I will remember was the reminiscing we shared back at the hostel on Sunday evening. We all spent hours and hours walking, accidentally joining a breast cancer awareness walk (going the wrong way), and riding more than one bus in the wrong direction. Yeahh, always lost...more on being lost in London later. Anyway, as we poked fun of each others mistakes and missteps, I looked around my hostel room at the exhausted and dirty faces of my fellow travelers and was struck with how very happy each of them were. They were exactly where they wanted to be. The contentment on each of their faces, in spite of everything they didn't have, was amazing.

The sequence of events leading up to that moment are as sweet as they are strange, and most days I still can't wrap my mind around what my life is like now.

Let's back up. Two years after college I was working for an advertising agency, enjoying the job immensely and all the comforts that come with working with amazing people. During those days I would tell anyone who would listen how I wanted to work in missions, fighting for social justice and real social change. I had paid off half my college debt but the end wasn't coming fast enough. As time went on, I grew more itchy and landlocked and around the height of it, I was recruited to do in-house marketing for another company. This position would significantly shorten my loan pay off plan to just 12 more months. The company didn't have the best reputation, but in the end I accepted the job. I could handle anything for a year right?

The company turned out to be worse than I imagined. The politics and beaurocracy had a way of setting everyone on edge. I was instructed how to write emails, speak in meetings, the order of command to get approval, what times of the day I could speak to the boss, and how to spin the truth and deny any and all mistakes. Daily, I struggled with my decision but determined that I needed to just suck it up, fall in line, and in twelve months I was free. Again, what is twelve months of this compared to years and years of following my dreams?

In the end I made enough mistakes, and on a sunny Friday afternoon in June I was told I didn't fit in and shown to the door. To be honest, I wasn't great at the job - I could never keep the rules straight. Twelve weeks was all that it had lasted, but I was so burned out that I needed a deep corporate cleanse. That weekend my Grandpa was diagnosed with pneumonia and I went to visit him the hospital. He asked how work was going and upon hearing the entire story, he asked why I would have wanted to work for a company like that anyway. I explained the line that had become my mantra, I was doing this all so I could pay off my loans and be free. His response: oh! if that's all that's keeping you from following your bliss, I'll pay off the rest of your loans.

When I think that conversation took place five weeks ago, it still blows my mind. To be given so much freedom so fast was unbelievably overwhelming and I tried to think straight. I decided to spend the next few months outside, living with the most laid-back and modest people I could find. Six days later, I had signed on to WWOOF (world wide opportunities on organic farms) in the UK for the summer. I moved out of my apartment, sold my furniture and bought a plane ticket. I now spend my days gardening and doing any odd jobs around the farm. I stay with hosts and work in exchange for a room and food, which has been a cheap and fun way to get to know a country. Currently I'm in England (B), and I'll be working my way around the coasts of Scotland, Ireland, and then back to Wales.

When I come back in September, I have no intention of getting a job in Minnesota. There are still a ton of things to be worked out, but I would like for this next season of life to be spent fighting generational poverty, disease, and lack of resources in a third-world country. God willing, and I'm not kidding its going to take God to make this happen, I will get to work internationally for a non-profit that I can really put all my blood, sweat, and tears into.