It’s been far too long since my last post. Life has been just so crazy lately, but crazy in a good way.

Work has been crazy busy and stressful but I got a new position that I started last week. I really like my new job and enjoy what I am doing more than what i had been doing. A whole bunch of my friends finally are back home, or were home briefly, and I spent a lot of time with them catching up and just enjoying. Plus the weather had been great on the weekends, and therefore I spent as much time as possible outside getting my vitamin D intake.

This past weekend I went on a retreat with the youth group that I work with. It was in the middle of New York at Camp Deerpark. I really enjoyed this retreat as it was not one in which all the Core Team (the adults who work with our youth group) had to ‘work’ all weekend and put on a retreat for the students. This was for all of us. It was only for the graduating seniors, college kids and the Core and we were all there as retreatants. Not only was this weekend good for me because it has allowed me to kick start my spiritual life back into gear, but it reminded me who much happier I am and how less stressful life can be.

This weekend we split into three small groups and each group had different books we read and discussed. My group consisted of my friends Dylan and Andy, a new Core member Sherry and a senior, Jen. Since I did a bible study with Dylan and Andy last summer, I was a bit used to these type of small group discussions with the guys. Sherry is very new to the Core and I didn’t really have a chance to get to know her much until this weekend. Same with Jen; even though she has been in the youth group all year, and she had my name for secret Santa (she made me an awesome drawing that is hanging on my bedroom wall), I never really had a real conversation with Jen until this weekend. We read What Does GOD Want? by Michael Scanlan, T.O.R. This book was exactly what I needed right now; perhaps that is why I picked this track as one of my top choices for the weekend. While we did not have time to finish the last three chapters (which I am working on reading this week), we read each chapter as a group and discussed. The whole book is “a practical guide to making decisions”. While I have sometimes been able to figure out what God is asking me to do in my life, there are many times that I do not want to head in the direction He is taking me. By thinking about it and discussing this weekend, I was able to realize that there are many other things the God is asking me to do that I either ignore or do not attribute to Him. I have decided to make a conscious effort from now on to first decide what God is asking me to do and to put that ahead of my won agenda.

Aside from learning about making decisions, and making the right ones, I also made a decision about how to handle the stress at work in my life. Friday was a very stressful day at work, even though I took the morning off to see Dave Matthews Band perform live on the Today Show. It was such a long afternoon at work and when I left at 5PM I was in no mood to see anyone, but I knew that I needed to put it all behind me so I could experience the most from my retreat. By putting it behind me and leaving the stress that work causes at work, I was able to have one of the best weekends in a long time. I realized that not thinking about work when I’m not there makes everything less stressful. It’s not like I have work that I need to be doing away from the office, so why should I bother and let the stress my job can sometimes cause become a factor and take away from the rest of my life? So after not thinking about work for the entire weekend, I went to work this Monday morning with the plan that I was not going to let work stress me out and I was not going to stress over any of it when I was not in the office. By doing this for the week, I feel like an enormous weight has been removed from my shoulders. The combination of this and my new position have allowed me to enjoy everything else, including my reading. I was able to re-read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in the past 8 days, though I read nothing Friday-Sunday. This was a great surprise that I still am able to get through the books quickly as I have every intention to re-read books 3-6 before Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince hits theatres, and then I will re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to finish out the series, yet again.

But it seems that I am getting off on a tangent as I am tired and still must finish packing as I am headed to Boston this weekend for the Great Boston Beer Marathon with some friends from college. It should be rather a fun experience.