I love exploring. We used to travel a lot, but with rising climate awareness, we do much less of it. And actually, one does not have to travel far to find new places. Every day offers great opportunities to find unexpected joy along the way. On my dog walk, I found such an extra happy moment, so I wrote this blog post in the hope that my dear read can find the same!
The easy Joy of Familiarity
I understand that by walking the same path every day, you can really get to know it intimately: in rain, in mist, sunshine, snow. On a Monday early morning or drab Wednesday night. You might notice the growth of hedges and spot the seasonal changes with every step. Or you might not leave the house at all, sit on your sofa, scroll social media and learn about about 50.000 types of smoothies or family drama of people you never met. I suppose, tere is joy to be found in very different approaches and activities.
Stepping off the beaten track to find joy
However, I love to criss-cross my habitat. I want to test boundaries, try new perspectives, crawl through bushes and check the view from across the valley. Maybe I am a bit restless. When walking the dog, I like to meander, if only by changing the side of the road or taking another traffic light to cross the road. It is exciting to roam wildly: take wrong paths, cover ground, look at the many angles of a place. Occassionally, you find yourself in dead-ends, industrial wastelands or simply lost. Then it’s best to retrace your steps and try something else. But this way, new gems can be discovered.
Today, after living in our little town for over two years, I took a slightly different path with a friend and we were rewarded with the most spectacular view across lakes and Alpes. I could not believe, that I have never been there before, even if it is just forty minutes from where I often park my car. If not following a new line on the map, I might never known, what beauty was there to be enjoyed on a regular dog walk on a Friday morning. I felt like a dashing explorer stumbling upon a legendary treasure island. If not turning left instead of right at one point of our regular path, we would never have seen it!
How extra effort sparks extra rewards
Even without physical exercise, we can explore new worlds. It is fun to watch good movies and shows! However, as a boy on a PlayStation is hogging my usual screen in the past few weeks, I suddenly watch a lot less TV. Instead, I read more books and was lucky to come across some very good books.
Now, I feel these stories stay with me longer. By constructing the universe from the pages of the books to appear in my inner mind, I am more invested in it. Just as you are more likely to appreciate the shelf that you built or cookies you baked, the active draping of rooms for book characters to move around in, makes it more intense as a mental journey.
When reading and walking: Roam freely! Try wildly! Feel at liberty to abandon!
And while it is tempting to stick to a genre you enjoy, it can be wildly satisfying to read books with very different approaches. So in the past few weeks, I traveled to outer space, the English seaside, Vietnam, Manhattan, the future, the past, and fantasy realms. I read non-fiction books about happiness, the human mind, or the economy.
If I don’t enjoy a book after a few pages, I dutifully put it on the pile „to be looked at again later“. Not every day is right for every type of book. Not every book is right for me. Some books are impressive, clever, funny – and I hate them. Some are mundane, stupid, boring – and I love them. Sometimes, I want to nibble an Haute Cuisine meal, and sometimes gobble French Fries. There are many great books around. No need to waste hours consuming something that is not right for the moment.
While I strongly believe, that each one has there own path to happiness, I hope that my little rant encourages one or two readers to trail off their usual path, to try something different and hopefully find enjoyment in a new corner of their lives!
Because sometimes we do not even see which paths we never take!
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