This week was a doozy. I let a relatively minor piece of bad news spiral me into a funk and it took me a few days to crawl back out. Finally, my very wise hubby gently kicked me out of the house for a hike in the hills and I came back after an hour and a half feeling ever so slightly calmer and less anxious. Better able to attempt some small forays into productivity. A few days prior, I captured this heron, frozen into immobility while it waited for an unwitting fish to swim by. I could relate as I felt frozen by inertia, unable to move forward.
In the very early days of my now sadly abandoned blog, I had a tag (remember those, before hashtags existed?) called “put on your shoes”, and the posts were mostly a response to days of disgruntlement magically erased (or softened) by lacing up my chucks and booting my own self out the door for fresh air and blowing out the mental cobwebs.
I know I’m not alone in feeling like we’ve all been on a crazy roller coaster for the past year (or four years, depending where you live). Sometimes I feel grateful for my family and our health, sometimes I have insomnia for nights on end, sometimes it’s all good, sometimes it’s really not. At all. But this past week has reminded me, yet again, to be present in this moment. To not look too far ahead because we just can’t know what the future holds.
So I walk out the door, and I find a path or a trail and I breathe and I lose myself in the here and now.
In the early days of dating my husband, we discovered that when we were hiking in the mountains or on a coastal trail, or even just strolling around town, we had different objectives. His was very often the destination – to get to the top, or the end, or to some meaningful landmark. And mine was just to enjoy the journey – whether or not we turned back before getting to the pinnacle was often immaterial to me.
Journey versus destination. I’m the former. And it’s helping get me through this year of hills and valleys (literal and metaphorical) relatively intact. Capturing the view along the way helps remind me.
cheers,
kim
(all photos from my iPhone)
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I feel the journey has been so difficult this year, I myself am really looking forward to a destination. Love that heron, btw.
I hear you, Maite. Let’s do a photowalk when we are safe to do so again!
I miss your part of the world. And you. So it will be lovely to look forward to the journey and destination when I come to visit whenever that is…
My part of the world misses you too, Kirstin. And I miss YOUR part of the world! Can’t wait to meet up here or there sooner than later. x
I’m all about the journey too – process vs. product – counter to my hiker husband’s objectives. I just know you and I are going to be in step when we, one day, get our mosey. xo
It will happen, Deb — sooner than later, I hope! x
Kim, this spoke to me so. Like you I am all about the journey, especailly now. The moments might be small, but provide a magnitude of meaning right now. I always feel better after a walk. Thank you for this beautiful reminder.