Letter to a 'nomad'

To whom it may concern,

You are not a nomad. A nomad moves purposefully, toward something, he does not move away from his destination in flight.

Now you are spending all of this time sitting around on the couch, smoking too much, watching too much bad T.V., not showering, FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF. You have become a shell of the man you once believed yourself to be. A shell of the man I once knew. And why? Because you are refusing to face the hard truth that you are the cause of the problems in your life. You swam out into the middle of the lake and now you have to decide whether you're going to continue to the other side through the storm or whether you're going to turn around and head back to shore like all the times before.

Everything you've hoped for has eroded. Your dreams have crumbled; each time you've gotten close to success or happiness you've run away from it, or quit, or even worse, ruined it with an irrationality that suggests you don't believe you deserve the shining life and privilege you've always told me you envision for yourself. You have spent all of this time sabotaging yourself without knowing it, but it is plain to see and secretly, I think, you do know. You didn't move because there was something beyond the horizon calling you, (well, maybe the first time), you moved because there was something deeper in all those places tugging at you to stay. It seems that all along you've feared the possibility of getting all you've dreamed of in this life....

You are not a nomad. Nomads move because they have no choice, no suitable place to put down roots. They move because to survive, they must follow and care for what sustains them. Nomads cherish this sustenance because they know that it may not last always.

It seems that you have not determined what will sustain you. Maybe it's that you're afraid of what nourishes your soul. One would think that you've unequivocally rejected this nourishment, although you seem unable to push your chair away from the table entirely. Why are you unable to accept sustenance? While some search and search and never find, leaving this life malnourished, yours has come right to your doorstep many times before.

You are not a nomad. Nomads must prepare themselves for everything, they must stay the course in the face of confusion and despair. They accept the power and unpredictability of their surroundings and live their lives within that context, taking nothing for granted.

You've been sitting for years avoiding the real journey. Are you afraid? Ashamed? No matter. The past is the past but now, you have to make a decision. The stakes are higher than ever before. Don't forget that you have created this. You are afraid that the next leg of your journey will be nothing different than you've had before. Without preparation, even the desert will teem with all of the demons you seek to escape. They are in you and no one else.

You are not a nomad.

The possibilities are endless for you, if you admit that you make life happen, if you see life as a journey punctuated alternately by struggles and joy. You are owed nothing, no, not even you. You cannot continue to wait for others to recognize your brilliance and bestow upon you what you feel you deserve. The face that you present to the world matters less than the one you see in mirror or the one you present to those closest to you. My greatest hope is that you finally accept this. Above all it is you who must recognize that all you need is right in front of you. If you do, all that you want will finally come. Will your desert be the urban skyline of a new city or confines of your mind or the vast, stark beauty of the Sahara's sandy expanse? I don't know. Simplicity comes from within. Maybe someday you will see....

With great love and concern,