"When I was young...it was more important to get to the end of the trip than enjoy the journey."
inspired by a thought from THE WEST COAST TRAIL: One Step at a Time
I've often wondered what it really means to "enjoy the journey." So many things keep pulling us this way and that as we try to balance work, home, family, finances, fitness, spirituality and the million other things competing for our time and energy. In retrospect, we kept learning the same lesson over and over every day while we were hiking the West Coast Trail. We were constantly torn between our need to get to the next campsite and the incredible views and natural beauty that stood in front of us at every moment. In truth, we didn't stop nearly often enough to enjoy what was staring us in the face. Our focus was clearly on the next place to set our foot down without falling off a slippery log, caroming off a ladder or sinking into the mud, all the while trying to maintain some artificial timetable that we had established. The Trail, like life, offered us the opportunity to experience the beauty, smells, sounds, joy and peace if only we would take our eyes off the goal and turn them to what was right in front of us, in that moment. The funny thing is, those are the real goals that most of us express anyway, we just have to slow down and experience them.
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