Sunday, April 3, 2011

Fresh Start: Day 25 of 40 Days

I haven't yet signed up with the online blogging community NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), but maybe I will. The website offers monthly themes and daily prompts for postings, as well as a little extra traffic and certain challenges that result in cool prizes. I am at a loss for what to write about today, so I will use NaBloPoMo's prompt of the day:

How do you usually feel at the beginning of a journey?

I am a last minute packer. But, I also really like to try to leave for my journeys at the time I originally planned to. I was bred to be punctual. Being a last minute packer and being punctual do not always work so well together. And so, as I am preparing for a journey, I am usually quite stressed and overwhelmed and frantic.

The hour or so before I leave is spent packing, tidying house so it is in a good state when I return, tying up loose ends, double checking that I have what I need, and being loaded into the car at just the right minute to be able to leave on time. Then, and only then, can I relax and enjoy. It is once the journey has begun, after all of my ducks are lined up in a row, that I am fully excited about the journey. I can then focus my attention and energy on what I am about to be doing. I can daydream and plan my adventure. I can anticipate what I am about to experience. The prepatory doing is over, and I can be fully present with the journey itself.

The stress is gone. The sense of being overwhelmed is gone. The frantic preparations are gone. As the journey begins, I leave all of those anxieties at my own front door. Starting fresh. Starting clear. Starting new. The beginning of a journey is like the beginning of a new chapter in life.

I am open to what the journey holds for me. I am excited to have something to stir up the mundane predictability of life. I have the sense that my time on the journey is both expansive and limited, and so I commit to being fully present in every moment, to fully live it and appreciate it.

I love to go on journeys. I love to share the adventure with another, to share the joys and beautiful landscapes, to be prompted to experience things I normally wouldn't. And I also love the solo journey, where I can move at my own speed and be fully led by my own nature. Both have their own flavor, both have their own purpose, and both have their own stresses and benefits. Either way, a journey outside of my daily life, outside of my known routine...this is such a wonderful way to let go of stresses and let in new inspirations.

The beginning of the journey is the source of all of the benefits that come from the entire journey. The benefits begin as I take those steps out of my front door, leaving behind the attitudes and perspectives that I don't need to take with me. It is my fresh start.

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