Up, Over, and Mapping Your Place in the World
On orienting
“But how will I know which path to take?” asked fox.
“Looking at the one you’re already on,” replied bear, “might be a good place to start.”
Thoughts while making
Up and up and up. And up.
From the floor where I lay through the ceiling, between the trees, past the clouds, into the blue and beyond, above and further still.
When I first moved from Seal Beach, California to Harrisonburg, Virginia, it felt like nothing was where it was *supposed* to be, from which drawer the forks were in to where the nearest gas station was.
Even sunsets and entire oceans were flipped.
That which was automatic, the familiar grooves and routines we channel into our daily, became (sometimes) impossible puzzles to solve. And, oh, how our brains love to try to solve problems, don’t they?
Orienting, well, was dis-orienting – like water spilled upon a map, bleeding together names and place and feelings.
To keep myself from spinning off this rock, I’ve done the same exercise in each of the places I’ve moved:
I imagine soaring high above wherever I am, looking down, and seeing myself as one of those “You are here” dots.
From there, I widen the view until I bump into my knowns – from the closest gas station, thrift shop, and park to my nearest family and friends.
Then, I connect the lines between; realizing that “You are here” is only ever meaningful in relation, to others, to what you value, to what you need, to who you believe yourself to be.
At these times, the map looks very different, but the legend and landmarks are quite simple:
There’s an I and a You. And the distances that attain between is the only geography that matters.
When your world is spinning, how do you orient yourself?
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