Destination: Unknown
There is something about being lost, that I think we have lost. It has gone to the same place as being bored. Both things have been thrown in the trash, in this sat-nav-mobile-entertainment-always-on society that we live in.
I’m not saying that those things are bad, I’m just saying that the things that have “fixed” have been lost, and are at risk of being forgotten.
Being bored seems like such a distressing state of mind, for some. Being lost seems unsettling at best, and full on terror at worst.
As a child, I was luckily to have been taken around Europe in a tent and later in a caravan. It was the late ’70s, and we would travel through a good slab of Europe at a somewhat leisurely pace. As I think back to that time, I can honestly say that I have no recollection of being bored. That includes the times where we had to drive 500 miles, towing a caravan at nothing faster than 55mph. Sure, there was stuff to see, but I think that I just naturally found the time to either day-dream, or to just let my mind free-wheel.
As a collective, we seem to have lost that ability. That ability just to “be”.
In a related sense, we have also gained a skill of being worried or panicky about not knowing where we are going. We always need to know where we are going, and to know how we are going to get there. If the sat-nav fails, or there is an unplanned road closure, we go into a mild panic.
For some time now, I’ve been thinking about some kind of road-trip, and I’ve not been able to work it out. My problem? -> Where to go…
…And there you have it, that is my problem. I have been thinking of the road-trip in terms of destinations, when I should have been thinking of it in terms of the bits in-between.
For a while, I have had a curiosity about the old Victorian Grand Tours. I have looked into trying that myself, looking at where they visited and looked at how I could do do the same. I was totally missing the point. Sure, there were specific places that they wanted to visit, but it was more about the cultural journey than about the individual points on a map. It was a Grand Tour not a Grand Destinations.
As I try to work through what life holds before me, and get all stressed and anxious about where I might end up, I am starting to see that there is an alternative life-view; the journey-view.
Like all journeys, you always need a destination. However, it is about your focus. It is about looking out of the window and seeing the meadows. It is about stopping to smell the flowers. It is about stepping out into the rain, and feeling the water fall from the sky.
It is not about being reckless, or ignoring responsibilities. It is about trying to remove the stress of destinations, and attempting to enjoy the calm experience of the journey.