Take the Long Way

Although I consider myself pretty efficient and conscientious, in some ways I’ve always been a “take-the-long-way” kind of girl.

If I’m riding in the car or taking a walk or doing anything outside, even on a workday, I will always take the most beautiful way….which usually tends to be the longer way. I rarely care to get from point A to point B in the quickest way.

This tact has impacted my life and who I’ve become. I consider it one of the markers that created who I am. I’ve done this from childhood when walking to school or around the perimeter of playgrounds or as a teenager through Evergreen Cemetery or Two Lights State Park.

Although a task master, I can relax. I’ve always been able to. I try to sit quietly and alone a little bit every day in one my favorite spots in my home. A place with a view. It calms me. Grounds and centers me.

Most of my career, when I walk out their door, I have left them behind and have stepped through the wardrobe into Narnia – into my “real” life. I’m not one who would ever want to work at one pursuit 24/7. I have many interests and find I’m better at all things when I flit among them, not resting too long in one spot or one mindset. I love mixing it up, changing the scenery, altering the task.

When I need to go somewhere, I always want to see beauty, nature, and something new if I’m lucky. Aesthetics matter to me.

Nature inspires me to be more grateful, to write, take photos.

Be a better person.

Well, that’s worth an extra chunk of time to arrive at my destination, right?

I have always lived my life thinking the grass isn’t greener on the other side….and the magic is in the journey, not the destination. So I don’t rush the “real” side of my life.

I do stop and smell the roses.

Julia Cameron has said the worst thing you can say of a man is that he didn’t pay attention.

I pay attention deeply.

I pause when I walk to look up at the royal blue sky, look down at the uneven bricks or pine-needled paths, or out across the river or the lake or the ocean. I breathe deeply when I do wanting all my senses to take it in. I find this such a stress-reducer.

Taking the long way may absorb a little more of your time.

But to me, it’s time well spent.