August 25, 2020
I heard the best quote the other day, “When the world stopped we had someplace to go.” Most of us felt trapped in our homes. Kids were on the computer not playing games but learning new things from digital presentations designed by teachers then regurgitated by parents hoping to know the way. I remember talking to many creative people who had just lost their live stages, book promotions and movie premieres and they weren’t happy with the moment. And yet today… standing this close to September 2020 I keep hearing the call of rejuvenation. If this quarantine hadn’t happened they wouldn’t have been introduced to newer ways of introducing their art to the world. On this podcast episode a simple trip into the forest to go camping opened all that felt closed. Learning to appreciate what you do have when everything around you feels like it’s disappeared. I hadn’t been anywhere near a body of water connected to very tall trees in five months. To be back in nature was a moment I didn’t think would ever happen again. Upon that journey back into the wildlife I took note of so many changes. Because the humans weren’t always around the squirrels had disappeared. The birds weren’t chirping and there didn’t seem to be any pesky summertime bugs. So my choice was to shut up and listen for God. What I couldn’t hear I saw. The huge array of colors nestling next to the blue water held in place by melodic rolling hills. How could anyone feel alone? I felt safer in that forest than standing at a Starbucks or Walmart. But how could I turn this moment of not having so many luxuries into a lesson of learning how to appreciate very little than a lot? I honestly don’t want to return anything from the past seven months. As out of place as everything continues to feel and perform is as perfect as life seems to feel. The one time mundane seems to feel like a gift. As much as we’d love to run around at the mall, take in movies and step into an overcrowded arena to catch a live concert I ask, “Do you really miss it? Was it something you had to do because you felt like you fit in?” I’m truly not going to predict how life is supposed to move as we get closer to 2021. I stopped creating New Year’s Resolutions because 100% of the time I never achieved what could’ve been success. This year has taught a very valuable lesson to millions of unknowing travelers. While the world stopped and we had someplace to go we took ourselves to a deeper place. To take in the moment and learn to trust love. For many people it was a word we just said. Now we own a much clearer picture.