Marking Time: In Search of Stillness
August 25
As I write this, I’m sitting on a train from London to Edinburgh. The views are pastoral, if a little less green than normal, thanks to an exceedingly hot and dry summer here. And someone else is doing the driving. :) This allows for some physical and mental rest and some time to get caught up on goals…like writing, staying connected with others, updating finances, and planning for the next part of the adventure.
Time has warped completely for us since leaving on August 1st. I don’t mean the time zones, though being six hours removed from our “normal life” has taken some adjustments for our bodies and for the logistics of staying connected.
I mean for how quickly we’ve lost track of so many of the normal markers of a day and week.
Sleep schedules, mealtimes, and the odds and ends of daily life have all changed.
And part of this has been expected, and even fun. But some of it has been hard.
We actually like our routines; and right now, we don’t have many. Add to that the reality that things just take extra time to figure out when you’re in a new place and operating in a different language. And we’ve been in 15 new places in 24 days, so we’re a little scattered. I’m not complaining. I’m just riffing on rootedness and routine and how they help us process time. In their absence, things become a little ephemeral.
And that’s a challenge and an opportunity. To find what is essential and cling to it as locations change and days roll forward.
We’d like to practice “slow travel,” the art of just being in a place and taking it in, doing some people watching, and taking our time over an afternoon gelato or cafe con leche (or both) But we also like doing and seeing and exploring. We have a perpetually nagging case of FOMO, and we struggle with trying to take advantage of the opportunities we’re having while also listening to our bodies’ reminders of our need to rest and the beauty of quiet stillness.
We’ve actually come to love the slower mornings, whether they’ve happened because of an unexpected hiccup with our plans or because we built them in on purpose. They’ve provided some of the most restorative times so far.
And we’re looking forward to more of those types of days, even as we get excited about all the places we’re about to visit and people we’ll see here on this next stretch.
Slowing down. Taking it in. Being so present in each moment we lose track of time and forget what day it is and what’s next on the agenda. This is a challenge for us. It’s one we welcome because we know it’s something we need.
