Earlier this week, I interviewed Jacqueline Jensen who wrote a book titled, “Travel isn’t the Answer” arguing that we should embrace a special kind of awe, wonder, and open-mindedness for our day-to-day lives that we usually reserve for Travel. As I’ve been exploring Boston via bike for the first time this summer (as opposed to walking or the T), I have discovered many little nooks and hidden areas via bike that before did not exist to me. The city has seemed to grow in size in proportion to the number of routes I can find to explore it.
The deepest experience of this and a profound sense of wonder overtook me last night as I was walking with another friend in the Boston Public Garden. She pointed out that every single tree in the park is different, each a gift from different parts of the world. With this comment, a new park emerged as if it had been re-created. Looking at the park, there was nothing to see but the big picture – an incredible mix of beauty from all over the world.
I had walked through this park countless times but never saw the whole park. For ten years, I have sat on park benches, read in the grass, just take a leisurely stroll on a sunny day, but never fully knew what was there.
If I could be so blind, what else am I missing?
What else is there to discover at a deeper level?
And will it always take me ten years to figure it out? (I hope not, but alas…)
In seven days, I’ll be boarding a flight to Taipei to begin a chapter in my life of living and working nomadically. As I’ve simplified my life and embraced minimalism, I have noticed that I have had more time and have been in less of a rush to “do things,” giving me the chance to take routes that don’t make sense, go for random walks through the city and make time to have conversations I wouldn’t otherwise have. I feel so lucky and as I make the shift to Taipei, it seems much less a “vacation” or “trip” and much more an extension of an increased appreciation for life and the people in it. I’m looking forward to this next evolution…
