“One’s destination is never a place,
but a new way of seeing things.”
Henry Miller
Today I'm heading out on a road trip. Though it's not a particularly long one like some of the drives I've been on (driving from DC to LA!), it's still pretty exciting. I do a fair amount of traveling, but I don't do all that much of it in a car. There's something about traveling in the car that's immensely freeing. You can, at any point, stop. You can, at any point, turn down a different road. While I have no problem traveling by plane or train (boats are a different story!), there is something truly unique about being in a car and being able to have some control over where you're going and when you will stop driving. Maybe for me it comes down to a control thing, but I also think it's really fun to just be driving along, traveling through towns and seeing the world from a new, through-the-window perspective.
That's what a road trip does for me -- it offers me a fresh perspective on the world. When I received that Henry Miller quote in my in-box today (after I'd already planned to write about this exciting upcoming adventure!), I thought, "How perfect! And how true!" Going to new places is great -- I really do enjoy to travel -- but the true excitement is not so much the destination as it is the way you have an opportunity to see the world differently. Even if you're going to a place you're familiar with, if it's somewhere you don't go very often, it's likely to allow you a chance to think about things (and to see the world) differently. As Miller said, it's the new way of seeing things that's really our destination. The place is just the means to get to that new perspective that so many of us crave.
Some people have little interest in seeing new places or doing new things. While I definitely find it difficult to break out of my routines sometimes (a whole weekend away from my beloved dog and Mac computer! Ahh!), I always find myself feeling refreshed and excited when I return from a trip. In fact, some of my greatest ideas have come to me while sitting on a plane, train, or in the car. Something about the movement -- the going from here to there and back again -- really inspires me. There is something about going away and coming back again that makes me feel alive.
Not only am I inspired by the actual travel, but I also find it so exhilarating to see and do new things, something I'm more likely to do when I'm in a different place. It takes a lot from me to break away from my routines, but when I do, I find that inspiration is lurking everywhere. In new places I'm always finding new things to ponder and to write about. It's as if, in new places, I find words and sentences and paragraphs lying about and I can just wander around and pick them up, tucking them in my pocket for future use. I often wonder if these people and things and places have any idea how I am absorbing them, turning them into words, and saving them up for later. I often wonder if all of the new experiences realize just how valuable they are to me.
After I decided to write this post, I obviously went scouring the web for a perfect picture. When I first saw the image above, I thought to myself, "Yikes! That looks dangerous!" but then I realized how happy those people looked (and I told myself that the car must be stopped) and I realized just how free the picture made me feel. Something about the hands over the eyes made me think about how much I want to not just see things but feel them as well. I love looking around and finding tangible things that I can read and touch and see, but I don't really spend as much time as I should just feeling -- especially when it comes to awesome experiences like road trips. Often I'm so concerned with what's passing by the window that I don't really stop to ask myself, "What am I feeling right now?"
On this trip, I plan to do that, to ask myself and pay attention to how I'm feeling. I'm going to pay attention not only with my eyes (inspiration is everywhere!) but with my heart and mind as well. I'm going to use this weekend away as a chance to really experience living in the moment, to really feel the moment. I believe that happiness is just like an open road -- it's freeing and exciting, part directed and part unknown. Today I'm looking forward to driving down that open road and really letting the happiness sink into me. I'm sure I'll come across all kinds of new and interesting things that I will take with me in my mind, but my focus will be on feeling the moments as they're happening and realizing that there really is nothing better than having a positive mindset and setting out on an open road.
Comments on this post are closed because I'm on the road! :)
Photo Credit: (♥)
