I went for a walk today and no, it wasn’t like the walk to remember I had last week. Hehehe. This was not uneventful either, however, it unveiled a life-truth to me. In fact, it was in itself a metaphorical representation of the truth it shared.
The day was very warm and the sun was out. The weather was in the high seventies and it was truly a perfect day for a walk this time. I decided to carpe diem and max out the beautiful warm day with a walk. I hit the road with a smile and a bounce in my step, mostly because I was quite confident I was not going to have a repeat of last week. I walked to the end of my street and the road turned off to the right. I was almost tempted to go back because I had not explored the community before and I didn’t want to miss my way. I doused my fear and kept on walking with my mama’s wise advice resounding in my mind. “If you don’t know where you’re going, at least you know where you’re coming from”. I got to a trail and followed it. I literally let the trail lead me wherever it was going. A few minutes into the trail, I met a young lady and a baby in a stroller. We continued walking the trail and would you believe that the three of us together followed that trail for the next one hour, not knowing where we were going, yet simply trusting the trail to take us to its end. In that one hour, we encountered Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ moments, discovered a beautiful lush golf course, an old train track, perfect picnic spots and we saw a number of cute deer galloping into the woods. It was extra amazing that neither of us knew about the trail before today and with every curve and crest of the trail, our awe grew. When we’d think the trail was ending, it would continue to dip and rise in enthralling curves across the landscape and out of sight. At the end of the trail, I realized that I had just lived in a life metaphor.
There are surprises just out of sight that you will probably never discover unless you step on a different trail or allow yourself to stumble on a new path. If you go to work/ school/ the store through a particular route, try a different one sometime. You just never know what adventure it might lead you to. Beyond believing that the big wide world is out there and desiring to explore it, I urge you to step out and you will discover that there are big wide worlds within your little corner of the world. Within your so-called “ordinary” plane of existence, there just might be an adventure waiting to be unwrapped.
I’m a firm believer that life serves up many offerings for us to savor daily. It’s up to us to see the beauty in simple things and discover the amazing in ordinary experiences. Sometimes, we are so caught up in the excitement of discovering the gift that we totally overlook the beauty of the gift wrapper. You might desire a vacation, an exotic get-away, a blood-pumping adventure but don’t ignore the little miracles and journeys and adventures of everyday living.
I just might make this walk thing a weekly routine. I like the way I discover new things through them.
Here’s to my first full month in America. May the trails unveil beautiful surprises for me as I venture out to discover the world. And may you discover fascinating new worlds just around the bend from you as well.
Cheers!
P.S. When I got back home, I had a fortune cookie and the fortune in it read, ‘It is up to you to create your own adventures today!’ A pretty neat coincidence, right? 😀
Flow! 