Next time you’re homeless and you don’t know what to give yourself for Christmas, give yourself a home. I highly recommend it.

Reflecting, New Orleans, LA

One week into a new adventure, and I’m more all-in then ever. Every day I’m asked by friends new and old, “how long are you staying?”

“I’m staying until I’m kicked out.”

—

I readily acknowledge that both good and bad days are on the horizon.

But I’m looking forward to them all. I’m looking forward to being able to talk about how long I’ve lived in New Orleans not by days and weeks but by months and years. I’m looking forward to when local traditions are no longer new-to-me but understood-and-enjoyed-by-me. I’m looking forward to having a map of New Orleans in my mind, to when I no longer think of directions as north-south-east-west but upriver-downriver-uptown-downtown. I’m looking forward to when the everyday proliferation of new starts to settle down, to when I can hear the name of a street, bar, restaurant and neighborhood and know where it is, what it looks, smells and feels like, when to go, and how to find the “you have to try this” and “I know I love this” delectables that help form a good life.

But most of all, I’m looking forward to truly contributing to the community, to being able to help and give and create rather than having to ask for help and depend on others. To when I know my friends’ favorite libation, their favorite place, their in-jokes, the details of their daily and not-so-daily lives.

One lesson to pass on to anyone that already has a home: take a fresh look at your daily life and your relationship with your environment. You don’t have to move to create a new life. Break routines. Take a new route, try a new place, listen to new suggestions. Find your lost “awe of the beauty in the ordinary”.

I had to go through a pretty tremendous change to get here, but you don’t have to.

That’s what I’m thinking about this Christmas Day. A new life. New adventures. Opportunities. Revelations. Putting preparation into action. Contributing to something meaningful. Hope.

I couldn’t imagine sitting here, at home with family on Christmas Day, without having given myself this gift, the gift of a new home and a new life. Now it’s time to take advantage of this opportunity.

Merry Christmas.