Last weekend, my wife and I had an opportunity to travel with another couple to a new city that was about 8 hrs away be car. We normally fly instead of drive due to our schedules.
Surprisingly, the trip was relaxing. It was strange not to have to rush and follow an airline’s flight schedule instead of ours. There were no long lines for us to stand in.
All time had stopped during our travels. Conversation, laughter, silence, and sight seeing out of the car window distracted us from looking at our watches.
Things didn’t always go as planned. Being stuck in traffic led us to take a detour. Not happy with the choice of restaurants at an exit made us drive further to find a better one. Reaching our destination on a holiday weekend, we quickly found out that many hotels were booked and had to go further out to find lodging.
Everything was new to us. Immersed in a new experience distracted us from thinking about what we needed to do either professionally or at home. Truly, we left everything behind for three days while we explored.
Media today bombard us with celebrations of immediate success that took a lifetime to build. Our long car ride, reminded me, that there can be joy in slowing down enough to let things happen even though we had a specific goal in mind (of visiting this new city).
It also reminded me that nothing goes as planned. It’s just life. But somehow we never seem to get used to it.