Wind on a Whim

A little bit about myself.
I enjoy going places no one goes and doing things no one does. I do things on whims and sometimes, it even works out. Other times it turns out to be an awkwardly fun story or a good learning experience. I was going to school to be a elementary school teacher. Loving community college and my job flipping pies. Go to school. Go to work. Drink beer. Laugh. Play. Stay up into the wee hours of the night. Sleep in. Repeat. I was adventurous and had plenty of time to explore Portland and the many wonderful things it has to offer. What more can a girl want? I had been doing this for 4 years when I had this realization that I was going to school just to turn around and go back to school to teach. The thought seemed exhausting and quite frankly, boring. I thought back to all the great teachers I have had over the years. One of the main things that they all had in common was that they had all had crazy life experiences. They had really lived, traveled and learned from the world before settling down and becoming a teacher. Don't get me wrong, I loved my pizza job and all the experiences it lead me to but i knew I had not really lived yet. So I knew teaching would have to wait. But what would I get into now? During this period in my life I was experiencing a great deal of anxiety. I felt that I needed to listen to my anxiety and instead of dealing with it I needed to figure out what my sixth sense was telling me. I needed to do something just for me. I needed to take a leap that would hopefully pull me out of this spin.
At one point in life I had this friend that didn't really have a goal or direction for his life. When talking to my dad about it he mentioned this wind turbine school in Vancouver, Washington. When I was trying to decide what sort of change or adventure I needed to embark on these turbines kept popping in my head. I went to a seminar to learn about the school. I imagined standing on top of a turbine, 300 feet in the air with the wind on my face. I had to do it.
I signed up later that week.
When I called my mom to tell her she sounded astounded at my random idea to fix windmills. She asked hesitantly "Do you really think you will like it? Or is this just a Sam Whim?" She was asking a good question because I wasn't exactly the most handy person ever. I replied " Yes, I think I will like it and of course its just a Sam Whim!"
When I expressed my excitement/hesitation to my dad he told me that the school was only 6 months and once I got into industry if I didn't like it I could pay off my loans in a year and wash my hands of the whole situation. What a beautiful piece of advice and what a wonderful world I am a part of that that is an option. I was so lucky to be in a position to take this risk. I couldn't have done it without the mental/emotional/financial support of all three of my parents and Kendall my bestie.
So November 2013 I began Wind Tech School.


If you get one thing out of this post I would like it to be this.
Life comes in waves. Ruts come in stages and often time we are so distracted by life that we forget to look deep inside ourselves and check in with our souls. Our body reflects our soul and often times I think that we forget that. Anxiety is something that is more and more common these days. I challenge you to not get bogged down by your anxious feelings or thoughts but to dive into those and discover what your sixth sense is telling you. We check in with our loved ones to make sure they are okay, why not check in with ourselves?