A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES....

...begins with a single step- Lao-tzu.

We all know the saying...and most of us understand. To get anywhere, to do anything, we must take that first step.

That initial, sometimes frightening 'I don't know if I really want to do this' step. Because in reality, there is no guarantee. We can never know exactly what is behind that door, what waits for us at the end of our journey.

But what if the journey doesn't get us to the end that we wanted / dreamt/ planned for so long?

A few years ago, Boxing Day to be precise, I was heading off to visit my sister and her family. I had the car loaded with Christmas presents for her and the children, I had clothes packed, food in eskies...had taken a few days off work, said goodbye to husband and cat...ready for that five and a bit hour drive.

Excited to spend time with my sister, eager to get there and extend the Christmas celebration. I had taken this trip so many times before. Knew exactly what to expect. I would be surrounded by nieces and nephews, hugging and laughing. There would  be walks down past the river, drives out to the mountains or to the ocean. There would be water fights and card games, Monopoly and Scrabble tournaments, helped (or hindered) by a drink or two. I was looking forward to it all. 

My car got just to the outskirts of Warragul...and died. Dead as the proverbial door nail. The journey had barely begun when it was over. 

Sometimes that is what happens. No matter how much we plan and hope and research, we never reach our destination. 

I rang my husband, rang a tow truck, rang my sister. Sat on the side of the road and waited. I don't remember what I did with my few days off. I must have muddled around at home, being car less. But I do remember sitting on that road side, a lovely summer's day, not too hot but already warm. I was beside a paddock where a few curious cows glanced over occasionally..and I watched the traffic. 

All these people going somewhere. They all knew where they were going, what they were doing. Were they all going to make it to their destination? Was it going to be just how they thought it would be? This was Boxing Day, so with the stress of playing 'perfect families' I somehow doubted it.

Sometimes it doesn't matter the destination, it is the journey that matters. Do I go this way or that? 

If I hadn't gone past these houses, turned down this alley way and taken that lane, the less popular path, what would I have missed?

Sometimes it's the unexpected that add to our journey. 

On our recent holiday we had bus strikes, public holidays when most things closed, buses that never ever turned up...but we always found something else to do, another place to visit, came up with another plan. 

And each time we take a journey we learn about ourselves. 

We discover facets of ourselves----realise how patient / impatient we really are....know we can happily day dream hours away...write a poem or two while getting a car towed....know that we can write a novel length piece of work, that it is not beyond us...understand that we can lose hours doing research....get side tracked so very easily....will procrastinate unless given dead lines (and even then the floor ALWAYS needs a sweep, or two)....realise we have favourite words we like to use....that there is a theme in our writing....that it is time for a kick up the bum (see procrastination).

On every journey, no matter if we make it to our destination or not, we learn something.

And there will be obstacles. Things we have to go around, or over, or under, or perhaps even take a different path...as long as we don't simply give up.

That's the easy option.

I didn't visit my sister for those holidays. My car got fixed, eventually....and I had to wait for a few months till I had time available to make the trip. But I got there in the end.


'It is good to have an end to journey toward: but it is the journey that matters, in the end.'
Ernest Hemingway.

Here's to journeys...and where they may lead.

Vicki

http://vickithornton.weebly.com/