It’s a Sunday morning. Iowa is between it’s first and second springs, that transitory space of March and April where we can have 60 degrees one day and drop to the teens 48 hours later. It happened this past week. I’m unsure whether the trip to Florida—for all that it helped with me spiritually—is helping me weather Iowa’s coughing and sputtering spring.

But it’s the beginning of the week, a moment that allows me access to my personal intentions for the week. I can see the week with its opportunities for personal development and growth like a blank spreadsheet before me, ready for me to itemize, compartmentalize, and synchronize for optimal growth and experience. I’m not an accountant, but I like systems and often resort to this perspective when facing the future, including the near future of the coming week.

I’m wondering if there might be a better way for me. I can hear the ridicule of certain people in my life who despise this approach, and I don’t think that I’m reconsidering the way that I contemplate the week because of them. I think it’s because I’ve too often gotten to the end of the week and realized that by Monday or Tuesday I had fallen off the wagon of completing my daily tasks. As much as I like to be disciplined with waking at 4am, writing, completing my work, etc., I may need to consider another paradigm for how I navigate my week.

The most invigorating—that word brings my father to mind—metaphor in my life right now is adventure. Not a hiking excursion that returns me to point A so that I can hop in my car and go home but a journey adventure with the destination unnamed. I see the warmth of the sun, sandy beaches, meals and conversations with other wayfarers, live music, and deep reflections in my journal. Is this a viable paradigm for experiencing the week?

Let’s unpack it.

When I prepare to adventure into the unknown, there are a number of things that I make sure to take to survive, and to keep the purpose of this paradigm strong, I need to focus on the items that would spiritually sustain me. They include a journal and a book from each of the following genres: Greek philosophy, non-fiction essays, and poetry. Throughout the day, I would need to stop to check my heading, to keep my destination at the forefront of my mind no matter what I’m doing. I really like this as a motivation for taking time to read from these key texts throughout the day. They are what keep me grounded. They are the things that keep my telos before me at all times. Instead of taking “time out” to complete a list of daily tasks, I would be taking time to make sure that I’m aware of my destination, consult my guides, and press on. These guides are deeply connected with what I want my life to include.

So, here’s what I’m thinking. My work day needs to look like this: a constant journey during which I make multiple stops to consult these guides. They connect my work to my destination, even when the destination is shrouded in mystery.

I’ll need to choose my guides wisely. Keep them for a week. Re-evaluate. I’m excited about this week.

For this next week, my ancient Greek philosophy is Epictetus. My non-fiction source John O’Donohue’s Beauty: the Invisible Embrace. My poetry source is … either Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Poetry Unbound or his Feed the Beast. I’m leaning toward the latter.

The photo below identifies the types of interactions I want to have with people in a purely metaphorical sense. Fun. Exhilarating. Adventurous. I’m in landlocked Iowa, so my imagination will be in full force to see this as the attainable goal.

But it’s where I am, and I’m thrilled to be here.

On a week’s beginning

On keeping one beautiful thing in mind

On childhood encountered in midlife