"All You Have To Decide Is What To Do With The Time That Is Given To You"

You’d think I’d have conquered jetlag by now. But you’d be wrong. I also can’t sleep on planes, which only makes matters worse. It usually takes me a week to fully adjust to a new time zone. My first night in Greece was met with more obstacles than just jetlag – there was a ticking clock.

In January of 2011 I walked into my new home, an apartment on the HUG campus. This would be my home for the next...well, as long as I wanted it. After traveling for 20 hours with no sleep, I quickly made my way to bed around 11. However, it was not meant to last. By about 1:30 am I found myself wide-awake!

As I lay in bed, trying to go back to sleep, the repetitive ticking of a clock was keeping me awake. I decided, “This is my apartment now, my new home. I’m pulling the battery out of that clock!” I did and the dead silence made the jetlag insomnia slowly disappear.  

It’s funny, growing up I didn’t like being away from the comfort of home. I tried going to camp twice when I was about 9 or 10. Camp started on a Sunday afternoon. The first year I made it until Tuesday before I went home. The second year I only made it to Monday. In elementary school I was in Cub Scouts, like most boys, but I almost always skipped the camping trips. And the few that I didn’t skip, I dreaded going on them, though they were never that bad. 

Here's proof, I did do a few camps.
And I even appear to be having fun!

I didn’t mind going places. My family and I went on these massive two-week long trips around America all by car. I never minded those because I was with my family. And when you are with your family you are comfortable.

Family Trip to New England after 1st grade.

All throughout elementary, middle and high school I spent the night at friends’ houses with no problem because we all lived in the same town. It was close enough to my comfort zone. Towards the end of high school when I told my friends I was planning on going to Harding, five hours away by car, a couple of them laughed. They knew I didn’t venture far from home.

I went to Honors Symposium, a two-week experience at Harding, the summer before my senior year of high school, not sure if I could do it. It sounds ridiculous to even admit. I stayed the entire time and loved every minute of it! During that week they informed us we could attend a sort of “sequel program” in Greece at the HUG (Harding University in Greece) campus next summer. This would be the summer before starting college. My best friend said, “We have to do this!” Of course I agreed with him and signed up. It sounded like an amazing opportunity. However, I was dreading it and even planned on dropping out before payments became non-refundable.

During this time, senior year of high school, my choir was going to Ireland. My friends said, “We have to go!” I said, “Of course!” And like the upcoming Greece trip, I planned on dropping out before payments became non-refundable.

Well, I didn’t drop out of either. I went to Ireland for a week in March of 2007 and then to Greece for two weeks in June of the same year. I loved every minute of those trips! I knew I would, even during the dreaded waiting period.

All the seniors that went on the chorus trip to Ireland at the Blarney Castle.

I never dropped out because I knew I would have fun. I needed to have these experiences! I’ve often said that most of my life is me dragging myself kicking and screaming through things I don’t want to do but know I should. I needed to stretch, challenge and ultimately change myself.   

Over time my reluctance to leave home dissipated. I never thought twice about it. I never once got homesick at Harding. Then again, five hours isn’t that far away. But it’s farther than camp ever was! There was a spring semester I never went home. And the fall before that I only went home for Thanksgiving! The summer of 2009 I went back to HUG for the full summer semester and during that time I never got homesick! Time changes all things.

Late 2010, I was offered the job as the HUG assistant stating in January of 2011. I immediately took the offer and never looked back! For the last four and a half years I have had the most amazing experience. I got to see and do things three times a year that most people would love to do just once in their lifetime! Not only that, I got to work with, visit and learn from some of the most unique faculty and students! And would you believe that I NEVER got homesick during that entire time? It’s true!

When I started the job I couldn’t imagine ever quitting. Why would you leave such a golden opportunity? The “clever” answer I’d give people that asked me how long I would do this for was “When paradise becomes prison, I’ll leave.” See, I can count on two hands the number of friends I had in Greece. HUG and the students weren’t just my job, they were my life! And I loved it! But I knew that eventually I’d want more. I’d get tired of living on repeat – doing the exact same thing three times a year, year after year – no matter how fantastical it was!

July 2015, my last time on the Acropolis with the Parthenon. 

I’ve been home for almost two weeks and it’s been amazing! While I know I was gone for four and half years, it doesn’t feel like it. But in other ways it does! When I look back on my first year or two, they seem so long ago. So many new memories fight to overwrite those experiences. And now I return home to find many friends married, on the path to it, in big important jobs and some even have kids!

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life doesn’t stop. Time simply marches on. You can’t stop it. And maybe Gandalf said it best in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.”

The last morning in the Artemis (old hotel name for the HUG campus) was a whirlwind of goodbyes and setting things straight. As the clock approached nine, I was ticking items off my last to-do list. Once I had dragged my suitcases out of my room, I was ready to leave it for good. But not before one last little task – putting the battery back in the clock. 

The very last thing I did in my room – take a picture of the now working clock.
Flight is at 11:20, better go!

See, in an effort to quiet my room so I could fall asleep that very first night years ago, I didn’t realize that I was also subtly trying to stop time. I was trying to make the most of that experience. Even though I had no end date when I started the job, I knew that one day it would come to an end. I wanted to live in that moment for as long as I could – even if that meant challenging time itself.

Like I said earlier, “Time changes all things.” If I could go back in time and tell 9 year-old Steven, as he leaves camp after an embarrassingly short 24-hour stint, that he would one day live in a foreign country with no fear for four and half years…well, little Steven would probably have passed out and not have been able to sleep for a few weeks. Thankfully, we are all given time. “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” Hopefully, we all use time to improve ourselves. 

I went from being a boy who didn’t like to stray far from home to a young man living in a foreign land, begging for more time before the countdown even began. But taking a battery out of a clock doesn’t stop time no matter how much you want it to – and that’s fine. Time isn’t meant to be stopped. It’s mean to be used (wisely) and enjoyed. 

My time with HUG and Greece are over, on my terms. I’m happy and content with the four and half years I got. I’m just ready for the next big adventure!

June 2007 with Honors Abroad. On Mars Hill with the Acropolis behind me. Look at that smile!

May 2009 as a HUGer. Looking at the Acropolis from Mars Hill. 

July 2009 as a HUGer. Leaving Athens for what I thought would be my last time. 

July 2015, my last time in Athens.

Enthusiasm and Other Inspiring Words to Live By

This past week I went on a cleaning frenzy. Many of you may have seen the video I put up on Facebook. I had the time and for some reason I was compelled to clean. I went through every drawer, cubby and shelf and threw things away that predated my time in this apartment! Now I am accountable for everything in this apartment. One thing was saved from my cleaning wrath – one tiny sheet of paper taped to my bathroom mirror with a quote on it has endured. 

I love quotes. If you want me to get chills or tear up in a movie or book say something powerful. On second thought, it doesn’t have to be powerful; it just has to be meaningful. I have Bible verses that still hang in my room at my parents’ house from high school days. Freshman year of college I was the bottom bunk (by choice). I taped all kinds of quotes and verses to the bottom of the top bunk to inspire and remind me each night and each morning.

Senior year of college I typed up the simple phrase “Know Thyself” in Greek to hang above our door leaving the apartment. This was a reference to the oracle’s inscription in the Matrix movies which itself is a reference to the ancient inscription found in Apollo’s temple (the oracle’s home) in Delphi, Greece. It reminded us each day to remember who we are as we went out into the world. Don’t believe the lies. Don’t lose focus. Know who you are and make choices that affirm that.

We had another quote that year, perhaps the most thought provoking. To this day it is in my favorite quotes section on Facebook. This quote came from the 22^nd episode of season four of How I Met Your Mother, “Right Place Right Time,” and was stuck to the back of the door leaving the apartment. This is the full quote. The bold part was what we had hanging on the door.

The great moments of your life won't necessarily be the things you do. They'll also be the things that happen to you. Now, I'm not saying you can't take action to affect the outcome of your life. You have to take action. And you will! But never forget, that on any day, you could step out the front door, and your whole life could change forever. You see the Universe has a plan kids; and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings, and it starts to rain. It's a scary thought, but it's also kind of wonderful. All these little parts of the machine constantly working... Making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be... exactly when you're supposed to be there. The right place. At the right time.

The purpose of this post is not to debate fate, freewill, coincidence or even providence. I like the idea of that entire quote, but that one line really stuck out to me. It was a reminder that between walking out that door and walking back through it was when most of my life was going to happen – good and bad. The most important events in life are sandwiched between the most insignificant.

I’m going to play my nerd card here and give you another quote from the movie Thor. As Thor rushes to battle on another planet he is warned of the dangers he may face. Thor arrogantly responds, “I have no plans to die today.” Heimdall, the guardian of the road between worlds, simply responds, “None do.”

Life simply happens. There will come a day when you walk out your front door, like any other day, and learn of terrible news. A loved one will have passed before you walk back through the door. Maybe like Thor was warned, you won’t walk back through the door. Maybe you’ll be fired from your job or even fail a test. But bad luck doesn’t have a monopoly on the doorway. Just as likely, good things will happen too. You meet the girl of your dreams. You get accepted into grad school. You receive a promotion. Life is made up of significant moments interspersed between the most ordinary.

Each morning that I read that before I whipped open the door and sprinted across campus to make it to my 8 a.m. class I was a reminder that something big could happen today. And that’s still true.

So what quote survived my cleaning spree? Here it is:

The only non-ironic bathroom selfie I'll ever take.

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Isn’t that so true? Almost any example you can give, from the most beloved king to the craziest of dictators, had to have enthusiasm to achieve their version of success. Enthusiasm is almost always integral to success.

I have many expressions, mottos, sayings and rules. Ask any HUGer and they’ll laugh and start reciting some of these. One that I’ve truly tried to live by is this, “You’ve got to choose what you’re buying and sell what you’re selling.” No, I’m not talking about economics. I’m talking about life. I have to choose what I’m buying. The world can try to sell me all kinds of lies, discouragement and false notions. But just because they are selling it doesn’t mean I have to buy it. If the world is trying to tell you that you are a failure, worthless or anything else, what does it matter? Don’t buy it! I don’t get offended when the television commercials try to sell me something I don’t want. I simply don’t buy it. It’s the same thing.

In the same way, we have to really sell what we are selling. Whatever we expect others to see and understand from us must be fully sold by us and that is only done if we are enthusiastic. It’s even as simple as telling a joke. Sometimes a joke isn’t all that good but the person sells it with everything they’ve got. And because of that it works. That’s enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm is oh so very important. It encourages, it motivates, it uplifts and it gets things done. And that’s why this little piece of paper taped to my bathroom mirror survived the mass cleaning of 2015. Sure it looks like it should be thrown out. It’s crumpled from the steam of thousands of showers in my unventilated bathroom. But I need those words to stare back at me everyday while I wash my hands, brush my teeth and put in my contacts. Everyday I walk out my door, where life is daring to meet me, and all I can do is choose to be enthusiastic.