Heath Howard

Journeying Through Chaos – it sounds like a good book title.  But I’ve found, over the past couple of months, that it has come to resemble my life.  Don’t worry, my website isn’t turning into a personal Live Journal, detailing every hurt, pain, and angry moment I come across.  But there are times I feel the need to share something of a non-technical nature.

So what I’ve discovered over the past couple of months is that I’ve spent much of my life accumulating junk.  And I mean that in most every sense.  I’ve accumulated so much junk at home that if you gave my family a vacuum cleaner, it would proudly sit in the middle of the living room.  There is no other place for it.  Unless something new for our house replaces something old – it has no where to live.  My job and passion – technology – lends itself to accumulating junk.  Social media and information aggregation all give you fewer simpler tools but with much more information.  RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, all put tons of information – junk – in front of you.  This constant flow of information is like drinking from a fire hose.  I’ve accumulated junk in terms of health.  Over the past few years I’ve put on around 50 pounds.  I’ve also put on some bad habits – eating poorly and generally not keeping myself in the condition I can and should be in.  And lastly, I’ve put on some junk spiritually.  Going to church has been something that can be put off for grocery store trips or the need to sleep in.  Prayer life?  It’s like a fire extinguisher – in a glass box that says “In case of emergency, break glass”.

Maybe only some or even none of that applies to anyone out there.  Regardless, what I’ve realized is that it’s time to simplify things.  It’s time to get rid of the junk and start focusing on what’s important in my life.  As I approach the age of 30 (scary thought), I realize it’s time to focus on my faith, my family, and my friends.  It’s time to quit playing – it’s time to make a difference.