In the midst of blueberry pancakes this morning, The Babe decided it was time to make a "life plan." He is the type of human driven by goals. Which, of course, all of us should be, and I do have my vision board all mapped out in my closet, but I'm not the type of person to make SMART goals (as they are "officially" known). As we were mapping out what we want out of life and how we can get there, my mind kept coming back to the one thing I want most from this life experience (besides him of course): travel.
Ever since I was a child, traveling has been on the forefront of my mind. I guess you could say that the winds of the world have always "called" to me. But, although my love of travel is ever-growing and my feelings of wanderlust always seem to be imminent, I find myself stuck. Always stuck.
So, today, while The Babe has been gorging himself in his mounding piles of homework (bless him), I have been pining over all the things on my pinterest bored that I wish we could do before we start a family. Before I get old, wrinkly, and can't climb mount Kinabalu in Malaysia.
While scrolling my Pinfeed, I happened to see something about "Ted Talks" that a friend had pinned and I recalled hearing those two words used together in a sentence before. So, I decided to check this so called "Ted" who likes to "Talk." I found myself drooling over hundreds of videos about anything from global issues to habits of happiness. I was feeling rather bored and sad about not going anywhere so I clicked on one particular video: "The Are of Stillness" by Pico Lyer. If you have fifteen minutes to be inspired, click play and watch.
Mr. Lyer is a travel writer (lucky duck) who has quite a lot of good things to say. He made me realize that it's not in where you are or how many photos you take, it's about BEING there. It's about unplugging from the life we live every day and sitting still enough for even a few minutes to gather inspiration and feel more relaxed and happy with our lives. As of late, especially this week, I've felt like I needed this. I have been constantly overrun with housework, religious obligations, financial stress, work, and all the lovely plugins of social media.
Today I've learned it's not about where you are, its about what you do with where you are. It's about, in Lyer's words, turning ". . . beautiful sights into lasting insights." It's not the social and physical aspects of every day that are always as inspiring as we think they are. It's what you mentally, emotionally, and spiritually take away from what you see and experience every day.
Mr. Lyer explains that going nowhere can be as exciting as going nowhere. Life is not about where we are, it's about what we take away from the experience. Although it is good advice, I am human and it is going to be challenging to always remember that. But, for today, life can wait. Social media can wait. Work can wait. My 'life plan' can wait. Today, in light of this video and the advice of Mr. Lyer, I am going to unplug and go nowhere. But, maybe i'll at least pay rent first . . .
P.S. Here is the link to the video if you'd like to interpret it for yourself.
Photo Cred - Death Stock