Stephen Nehring
Jul 27, 2017 · 4 min read

Prompt 3: Layout of the Blog and What to Expect

I suppose that since this is my first post then I should layout who I am, what I do, why I am writing this blog, and what you can expect from this blog. First off, I am a recent college graduate with a degree in Geography with aspirations of being a natural resource manager at the federal level. I am a pretty big geek with interests including but not limited to: board games, wilderness excursions, good food, science fiction, good alcohol, film, books, standup comedy, fantasy, D&D, and environmentalism (although I prefer the old term, Naturalism). I am employed by a data collection company that supplies data to almost every state in the United States. My duties for this company entail traveling throughout the United States and collecting the raw data. Basically, I am a data gypsy. I write because this seems like an opportunity that most people will not get to participate in. I write also to keep a record of the adventures and thoughts that I have along this journey. I write, finally, to keep my writing ability at a certain base level with hopes of improving my writing and storytelling abilities. Lastly, you can expect that I will write on this blog occasionally and that is about it. Although I have not started my position, I know that I will constantly traveling and I do not know how much time I will have for writing and reflecting. I imagine that most of what I write will be personal experiences that I have throughout my journey but I reserve the right to relay other stories, post editorials that I write, or really whatever I feel that I need to put into words. I also am a big fan of unique movie theaters and am considering going to as many indie theaters that I can across the United States and writing reviews about them. That may have been the most bourgeoisie / hipster thing that I have ever written. Anyway, that is who I am and what you can expect from what I write. I will welcome civil discourse about anything that I write but please remember that I am not a professional writer nor do I think that I have all the correct answers about everything. I will try keep my eyes, my mind, and my heart open and I ask that you do the same.

Prelude: 0 Miles, Packing my Belongings and Unpacking some memories.

Now that we have some first post formalities out of the way I will begin this tale. I was able to spend last weekend at my family cottage in northern Michigan. There was a big party in town where I was able to chat with old friends about all of the fun that we have had while working on staff at the summer camp in town. After the festivities were over and my friends returned to their lives elsewhere I remained in the sleepy little town and had a lot of time to think about what I had done and where I was going.

I graduated high school in 2005 and worked as a summer camp staffer from 2005 to 2009. That first run through college and the time that I spent up north were some of the best days of my life. Of course, there were some difficulties but it is hard to top spending your early 20s in a beautiful environment with some amazing people. After some time in school and on staff I dropped out of school and moved to northern Michigan to work in the wineries in the region. I enjoyed my time up there and it did help me grow as a person but even though it was the first time I was really living on my own something still didn’t feel right. After reflecting on where my life is going now as opposed to where I thought my life was going seven years ago I realized something. From 2009 through 2015 my life has been about trying to recapture some of the best times that I have had while on staff. This stagnation in my life really took a toll on me and while that time frame wasn’t the lowest point in my life it was definitely a difficult period. Trying to recapture lightening in a bottle and failing for 5 years leaves a whole in the soul that is sinister and sometimes debilitating. Breaking out of that cycle by going back to school was the first step to breaking this fixation with the past, both the good and the bad. Now that I have truly made it past 30 years old, I see that there is some much more to see and do. I am both excited and nervous to start this down this new path, I know that the work will be challenging and rewarding, but mostly I look forward to what I can learn from this moment and from all the teachable moments that are still to come.

I think that the best thing that I can do now is live in the moment. I will be mindful of the future and learn from the past but I think that as I travel across this land my energy will be best spent by observing and enjoying the moments as I pass through them. Like a canoe on a river, it is best to paddle with the current and in the main channel. Sure, there are times that it is necessary to change course but it makes no sense to paddle downstream while staring upstream.

Stephen Nehring

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I am a Naturalist and a data gypsy. While traveling the country for work I hope to experience some interesting things and share my thoughts about them.