I like the noise of traveling. Watching movement while staying stationary yourself is one of the most enlightening experiences one can have if you allow yourself to be still in the moment. Today, as I travel to Richmond, then Atlanta, and then finally to my destination of Clearwater, Florida, I am going to savour the mundane details of my voyage in the same way I am going to relish the monotony of the hours I will be spending on my Ironman 70.3 journey on Saturday morning.
It is better to travel than to arrive.
Miriam Beard is known to have said that “travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” Beard is brilliant. A journey of any kind is more about how it changes you rather than where you are going. Saturday, when I race at Worlds, I don’t really care about final time, how fast I go, or my age group placement. I care more about how the journey of the day will change me. Or, more than actually change me, I want to be still in my mind as my body, my competitors and my surrounds whiz by me, and I want to enjoy every moment of it. As I prepare to plunge into 70.3 miles, there is one thing about my journey that I already know for sure and that is that I will be smiling.
In your current inner journeys, stop worry about the destination and instead enjoy the momentum of the travel. Learn to be a sight-seer in your own life; I promise, you’ll see new worlds that surround you that you never realized where there. Sight-see and enjoy the journey.