I have been in Summerville, SC for almost a week now. As the week has past I have found myself getting more and more depressed or down in the dumps. I don't write this for sympathy or because I want attention, I am simply writing this because this is the first time in my career with the Coast Guard that I have found it so hard to move to a new place and fit in. I have been living in a hotel for a week with my 2 dogs while my wife is back in Texas trying to get relocated with her job. It makes it for a lonely time out here, but not lonely in the sense that I have no one to talk to, more like I don't have a place to live so I feel like an outsider. I don't have anything to really occupy my time.
In the Coast Guard we are given 10 Days of House Hunting Leave (10 days of vacation to find a place to live and get settled) and we are given 10 days of Temporary Lodging Expense to cover a hotel until we find a place to call home. This is the first time in my career when I have moved to a place and not already had a house set up. I figured what the heck, let me just go out there and then I can find something. Let me tell you that was a huge mistake. I let some many good properties fly by because I wanted to wait until I got here. Now that I am here, I can't find anything worth moving into. Either the rent is too high, there isn't enough room, it is trashed, too far away from work, not in a good school district, or there is no shop space.
Today I had just had it, I was so close to loading everything back in my truck and driving back to Texas, but then I saw something. An Instagram post, when I needed it most there was a post with the following quote...
"All of life is peaks and valleys. Don't let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low." --John Wooden
I realized I was looking at everything through a negative eye. I was allowing things to get out of hand (peaks too high) and allowing myself to wallow in self pity (valleys too low). Instead let me look at the bright side of things and control the things I can influence. I may not be able to find the "perfect" house, but do I need the "perfect" house? No, because at the end of the day I will still be able to live somewhere with my family and enjoy everything life has to offer.
So the next time you find yourself down in the dumps I encourage you to find something positive you can focus on. I know I sure will.
If you want to see the Instagram post that helped me, click on this link here... http://bit.ly/PeaksandValleys