Discovering More

The best things to find are those we weren’t looking for.

Looking back at my life’s trajectory, a pattern has developed. The best of what I’ve found are things I never sought in the first place.

Take teaching. Initially, I was a writer. Teaching was a way for me to form a lifestyle around literature that could support my true passion: writing.

Somewhere in the 17 years I’ve spent teaching, that changed. I developed a love for mentoring and guiding students on their life’s journey. The ambition of forging a writing career gradually faded (for full disclosure, this fading coincided with many a rejection letter) and all that remained was what I was never seeking in the first place—service.

It’s no different in sobriety. Recovering strictly to save myself had a shelf life. Eventually, helping others to recover becomes what recovery is.

No different even from this blog—which I hope has found you doing well, dear reader, in the three years since I last took a mental walk with you. I sought to build a writer’s platform, but I found a community of folks in recovery who could share in the journey towards God.

What’s more than that, the blog conditioned me to look for those everyday miracles of the simple life. While I wanted to simply stay on theme and improve what professionals described to me as search engine optimization, something that helps people find the blog through web searches, I began to look for transcendent moments in the most ordinary of instances.

My three-year sabbatical from writing these posts certainly dulled my senses for this pursuit. I miss writing, posting, hearing from folks who can relate to my words. Something about meandering on the page like this, without the use of artificial intelligence to do the heavy lifting for you, is so refreshing.

I most recently experienced the phenomenon of finding more than I sought when I began practicing real estate. I entered the business to help our growing family, especially my children whose ambitions are beginning to surface. Those ambitions include all sorts of travel and equipment that wasn’t formerly in our budget.

But, as it so often has happened, what began as something small has become much greater a calling. I get to walk others through what is, for many of them, the most important decision of their lives. As a result, the great joy of this work hasn’t been the ability for me to help better provide for a growing family, but to witness those I work with cross the finish in the next step of their journey. Whether it’s first-time homebuyers looking to start a family, or seasoned home-sellers turning the page in their next chapter, I get to be entrusted with the guidance.

And that is the rush that has been the result of my life’s search and discovery mission.

A commonality in the pattern of hunt and parry—of seek and find—of strive and discover—is leaving with more than I came with. But what’s more interesting is the method by which more is made.

Essentially, the more is never of my making at all. It is made more by others. And I am made more being of service to my fellows.