The Middle of Nowhere

I love deleting friends on Facebook.  As a 21^st century introvert, I was given the gift of social disentanglement with the push of a button. I frequently take the opportunity to revel in the sense of power that this process gives me and always find myself happier after one of my deleting sprees.

Except last week. Between deleting a girl who I had spoken to once in some class and a freshman who I met when I had one foot out the door as a senior, I began pulling out names who would never be in the “to be considered for deletion” list. People would always have a place in my life. Names of my best friends from high school. Names of those who I had formed my future plans with. Names of those who envisioned the same city lights, who dreamed the same big dreams, who had the same drive to do whatever it took to leave the middle of nowhere. Names that now had Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Washington D.C., and Anaheim next to them.

And I began to wonder why mine didn’t have that too. When had the plan changed? Was it when I enrolled in a university in my home state to save on tuition costs? When I saw friends from that university not make it home to their families for Thanksgiving or Easter because of the distance?  Perhaps the wanderlust and sense of adventure got squashed in England when I was searching for a store open past five or a can of Dr. Pepper or box of Pop-Tarts. Or maybe it was in a place a little closer to home – Minneapolis, where the speed of traffic made my head spin just as fast. All fears and frustrations that made the city lights shine less bright.

But I forced myself to look past that. Fear and frustration have never been my personal roadblocks. So the question remained: why am I still here in the middle of nowhere?

The answer? Because I still have those big dreams, and this is where I’m going to build the foundation for their reality. It’s here that I found a group of professionals willing and eager to help foster my career development.  Mentors that have opened some really big doors. Professors who have taken the time to give me new ways to challenge myself. And a family just a quick drive away to lift me up when I’m at my lowest point. 

I didn’t settle down in the middle of nowhere. I created my middle of everywhere. And I’m going to make the most of it.