APPRECIATION FOR THE PLACES IN BETWEEN

Flicking through Kinfolk magazine this morning, I came across a short piece about the beauty and discomfort of being in those in-between places that are a part of travelling.

Alone in an airport, on a long-haul flight, in an unfamiliar hotel room, we are suddenly thrown out of ourselves, faced with new places, new perspectives and the behaviours of strangers. The known things that make us feel ourselves are far away; we are faced with a version of self that is somehow reduced and yet at the same time utterly free.

The article was written back in January and its author could not have known where the world would be now, just a couple of months later, but I see parallels with his observations and the situations we find ourselves in today.

We may be home, we may be living our familiar lives - but nothing is the same, nothing is familiar.

While that uncertainty can be both alienating and frightening, I see in this lack of familiarity a huge potential for reflection and renewal.

Here in the U.K. we have an unknown number of weeks still in lockdown, and I find myself valuing this time and more bizarrely, almost not wanting it to end. Because, if you’re anything like me, you’ll have been rushing through the last decades of your life, focused on the next task, the next goal.

So we have a chance now, if we choose, to slow right down and get really present in our lives, to appreciate where we are, to make changes where change is necessary, and to be grateful for all that we do have.

Life may not return to the familiar or ‘normal’ anytime soon, but it is guaranteed to speed up again. So let’s use this time wisely and well.

You can read that article on Kinfolk here: Neither here nor there