Day 1685
Well, trying to write after ~9 hours of driving is not easy, but man does it feel good to be back home. Amazing how much you appreciate something when you don’t have it. New York, New Jersey, Richmond, and all the other places I’ve visited are awesome, but nothing will ever beat the home you build with your family.
On the way home I listened to a lot of different stuff, from the Bible to football, to Bitcoin podcasts, and even The Power of Your Subconscious Mind audiobook. If I had one takeaway, it’s that you need to focus on the beautiful. Embrace the best things in life. When bad things happen, accept them and move on. A great quote I heard today which I want to paraphrase now is “When things get darker, it only makes the light that much brighter”. Shout out Erik Cason for reminding me of that via a pod.
Plenty of stuff in life is hard, but just as much, if not more, is amazing. I mean, just the fact that on a ~9-hour drive I have practically unlimited entertainment is incredible. That I have a vehicle that turns hydrocarbons into little explosions that allow me to travel the East Coast of the USA so quickly is a miracle. I’d pass a few exits & think, man, imagine having to walk this. How hard it would be to get around. Even on horseback, it’s still a much longer journey than hopping into a vehicle you can just fill up when the gas is running low.
Count your blessings, anon. Appreciate the small things. Tune your brain to seek out all the things that amaze you and make you grateful.
Get Chep’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Life is better that way, and this trip was a great reminder of that. Four nights on couches, and all I’m thinking about right now is how lucky I am to have friends who let me stay at their places. And it makes sleeping in my own bed that much sweeter tonight.
Everyone was asleep when I finally got home, so there wasn’t some big welcome home moment. But my wife had left me a handwritten note, and reading it made me appreciate being home that much more. I wrote her one back, which reminded me that writing with your actual hands is a lot harder than typing on a keyboard. LOL. Even got hersome flowers too, and I’m excited for her to wake up and read my note in the morning.
And I think that’s really the beauty of it all. It’s not always the big adventures or the exciting experiences. Sometimes it’s the little things. A note from your wife. Friends who offer you a couch. Your own bed. The family you’ve built and the home you get to come back to. What a blessing it all is…
Thank you, God.
11/1/26
Conor Jay Chepenik
