Day 4,021
Growth:
This quote from The Alchemist hit me between the eyes this past weekend. Dad always talked about his passion for the mountains, his enthusiasm contagious as he’d describe the areas he traveled to when he was older.
Over my past few weeks I can’t help but wonder why he never took more time to explore more areas more often, why he hasn’t taken me ok trips as I’ve done with my sons. He absolutely would have loved the adventures if these past few weeks.
That’s when this quote struck me.
The boy could see in his father’s gaze a desire to be able, himself, to travel the world—a desire that was still alive, despite his father’s having had to bury it, over dozens of years, under the burden of struggling for water to drink, food to eat, and the same place to sleep every night of his life.
Paulo Cohelo, The Alchemist
What’s interesting is that in so many ways so many of us see creating experiences as binary – it’s s huge experience or nothing. We capitulate to “it’ll be too expensive,” or “I don’t know how to plan it,” or “there isn’t enough time.”
The experiences created recently were largely inexpensive (packing all the meals instead o eating out, cheap camp sites and sleeping in rest stops). They were easy to plan (find a place to experience, hop online, less than two hours later a plan was made). They don’t take much time (Dominic and I did a long weekend over s holiday and used only one PTO day).
Honestly, it seems the biggest obstacle is breaking away from the gravity of status quo.
All of this is helping me see how helpful it is to live more intentionally, picking out what is most important and choosing to live into it rather than waiting for life to happen to me.
Appreciation:
After a long day of work bookended with long drives my brain was feeling pretty exhausted. Largely good stuff, just a lot of it and so many things I would like to take on but only so much time and capacity to do so.
After a relaxing dinner (more below) I was tempted to chill and relax. I had an urge to pick up my recent project and tackle at least a little of it. I pulled up my laptop and started working away. My brain suddenly surged with energy and got moving. In a matter of no time I’d gone a couple steps further than I had planned and was actually feeling invigorated.
Super grateful for the Red Bull impact of a passion project!
Presence:
Routine can feel amazing when we take a moment to appreciate it. This evening it was in the form of eating dinner on the deck with Becky at home, in doing dishes after we ate. The quiet calm of back to real life after travel was quite splendid!
Thanks!!!
