A Treasured Traveler
Paying homage to drives and road trips - one of my favorite safe places.
There is a gentleness to every arrival. A warm welcome, a gleeful greeting. Home is a comfort well known, but there is peace in leaving. There is an unfailing softness - comfort.
The road has always been a place of comfort for me. My childhood was filled with car rides and little ‘road trips’. Whether it was the drive to visit my grandparents, or to my brothers doctors appointments in faraway cities, or to small town banks just a couple towns over. Every time I was in a car, I was enthralled with the experience. There was this sense of excitement, like the world was entirely mine for the taking. It was a break from routine and a chance to watch the raindrops race sideways down the window. I got to listen to music and think without pressure or interaction while I stared at the different clouds.
As an adult… not much has changed. I still love watching the rain and seeing the clouds. It’s a bummer I can’t focus on them without crashing but you can’t win them all. I still love having that space to listen to music and reset myself. On a drive, the world still fits in the palm of my hand. The moment I step out of the car though, the world grows beyond my my grasp. Growing up didn’t ruin my love for the road, just adapted that passion for the struggles of adulthood.
More than just being enjoyable in and of itself, driving provides a lot of applicable lessons to our lives. It would be great to only focus on the beauty in the world, but doing so does make you distracted. You can miss things, so you have to learn the balance of enjoying the moment, while being safe and vigilant. You should have dreams and ambitions and wants, but you have to be realistic. Not in that you cannot accomplish your goals, but in that you cannot do everything all at once all the time. The world is big and wide and full of opportunity, but we are where we are for a reason. Sometimes, it is better to focus on where we are at on our journey at this very moment. So we don’t forget to refuel and rest, let our engines cool, and stretch our legs.
That being said, adulting does just suck sometimes. I recently have been in an emotional whirlwind of endings and beginnings, trials and tribulations. And it is funny how child or not, we search for places of comfort when we are in the most need for it. I obviously found shelter with my loved ones. However, the drives to those loved ones may have been equally as important. The peace and time for reflection and aspiration was necessary to make my next decisions.
However, after having multiple long road trips under my belt, I got to learn the difference of impact in a ‘drive’ versus a genuine road trip. I knew how the drives equated to lessons, but not the freedom of having a foreign arrival. It can be stressful, on your bank account and body. You probably won’t eat anything nutritionally value and will also likely bloat and start smelling maybe less than pleasant. But my god, it is worth it. The space to take a break from the worries and trivialities and problems. To forget about all that needs done and all you have not yet done. To take some weight off, to renew, to feel genuinely free. In and out of the car.
It is probably one of my favorite feelings to arrive and know that where I have landed is excited to have me. It truly is something special to have that time and space and air to make the journey, and then to know that the journey was more than worth it. So often we are caught up in our lives and small worlds that we forget the small things. Looking at the raindrops, dancing to your favorite songs, naming cloud shapes. We worry about valid things, but things that also don’t need to take up our entire focus. The road was to teach us responsibilities with enjoyment, but adulthood pushes that boundary. Sometimes it takes a long road trip to reestablish that boundary. The love, support, and freedom conveyed in your drive and your destination, makes you remember the excitement of an open road - it is the definition of a safe space to find a new perspective.
I recently just got back from a trip and the drive was honestly long and hard. I even got a ticket (could have sworn that red light was yellow at 3am). However, I also had the best time. I laughed and sang and ate. I spent time doing something worthwhile without necessarily being ‘important’. It was about making that drive, something worthwhile, for an important destination that provides comfort and refreshment. When you make that effort, there is an added value to your arrival. You become treasured. This process of the journey for introspection, destination for reflection, and arrival for validation, is all magnified when you have a destination in which you will be treasured.
For myself, I have been blessed to always have a place for a soft landing and a warm welcome. My wish for you is to have that opportunity as well. If you don’t yet, know you can make one. Regardless, you should make that journey at some point. Even if it is inconvenient, or if it isn’t the most rational thing to do. You should go anyway. You learn so much about yourself and where (or what) your heart yearns for. You learn about what you want and what is serving you. In my experience, you also learn a lot about what isn’t serving you - both within your life and within yourself.
So just go.