Narcotics and fields?

“There is much to enjoy in their lazy company, in these long Sunday afternoons spent at brunch, drinking champagne and talking about nothing. Still, when I am around this scene, I feel somewhat like Dorothy in the poppy fields of Oz. “Be careful! Don’t fall asleep in this narcotic meadow, or you could doze away the rest of your life here!” –Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat Pray Love)

I am only recently leaving the life of a small town. There are many aspects of small town life that are absolutely breathtaking; aspects I wouldn’t trade for the stereo-typed coldness of a city crowd any day. There is also a certain stagnancy I felt come on as strong as a midwest tornado – the storm of complacency that raged so heavily inside of me that I nearly missed my escape back to the reality of who Erin Dalton, at this moment in time, really is: needing to be on the move and not in the mood for stagnant complacency. Now the need for clarification comes once again: complacency is not bred by living in a small town. I have seen beautiful, monumental movements and actions in small towns. It is all dependent on where you are at the time and how wisely you are using the time spent there. At the time, I was feeling a very strong urge to live in a city again and I felt that I would better thrive in an area where there would be more of an arts-focused crowd. (Though not impossible, I have found that this rarely, unfortunately, happens in small southeastern U.S. towns.)

As all of this was coming to grips in my mind, I had the opportunity to move to Charlotte. This was certainly not the first city on my list of places to move to, but I was not about to pass up cheap rent and good housemates in a city. Not to mention the higher probability of opportunities in the arts (which I have been hugely blessed with since moving!).

"Narcotic fields," in my case at this point in time, have little to do with leaving for the sake of leaving. I have had my fair share of antsy moments - feeling the wanderlusting urge to pack my life belongings and move to another part of the country or world. These "fields" are much more related to the stagnancy that I let myself fall to when I feel like I am lacking the courage to pursue what I was created to be.

I created this blog to document my journey away from the stone walls created by remaining always in narcotic fields; to serve as a reminder that I am not created for stagnancy, but to live and breathe and move as a child who is created for a purpose.