A cloudless and clear sky this campervan morning. Just blue, fading to white at the extremes, planes criss cross overhead. The morning breeze, brings a welcome coolness after a warm night. Two magpies, locked in combat chase each other silently around the ash and oak at speed. Far off gulls call, the chatter of the usual culprits near and far fill the morning air, crow, blackbird, cockerel, robin and sparrow. Modernity shows it edge with jet engine and motor car. The breeze sends waves through grass and trees, bees are busy and early morning insects fly. Reflecting on a day of prepping yesterday and time to let it go and be. The balance has fallen too far the other way and the anxiety that drives the prep is in danger of spoiling the journey. In one of my fav Jane Austin novels, Emma, she writes :
“ Why not seize the pleasure at once? -- How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation! “
So an attempt to, as Elsa says, “Let it go” and bring a wee bit of balance into the equation. Stop over prepping. De Botton talks of travel :
“ If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest - in all its ardour and paradoxes - than our travels “.
He talks of their illustration of what life is about outside work and the struggle to survive”.
So previous and forthcoming travels, bring out in me my core sense of self. My internal somewhat slightly skewed sense of happiness being linked to my preparation. The paradox of my sense of my usual desire for isolation, yet travelling towards busyness. The search for beauty in all its forms both natural, physical and emotional. Just in planning ( There’s that word again ) a holiday so to speak. So picking apart a wee bit, some of the thought processes behind the decisions that drive the desire to seek experiences, in planning a journey. So much to write and so little time.
I have used this quote before, but it feels somewhat apt, once again. It also perhaps opens up more to reflect on. Lovely days people.
The fabulous Anais Nin.
“ We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”
Comments