“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”
―Henry Ward Beecher
In what aspect of your life are you proud of the distance you have traveled rather than what you have achieved?
It’s easiest to start the long list of things that merit our gratitude with the big things: health, family, community and such. But there are so many very small things to be grateful for: seeds and bees and the time your child did the dishes without even being asked.
What small things are you grateful for?
In costume and in collective imagination, re-enactors travel in time to Renaissance Fairs or Civil War re-enactments or the Victorian world of Charles Dickens, to name only a few. Of course, these environments are inevitably far more convenient and pleasant that the original version, but if you’re going to travel to someplace that you can’t actually go, you might as well make it nice.
Where do you go in your mind that is far nicer as you remember it than it was in the original version?
It’s not a simple thing getting an airplane ready to depart. You need to carry the right amount of fuel and food and beverages. You need to have everything cleared away from the last flight. You need to make sure that everything is in good mechanical order, and that you are prepared for emergencies as well as routine travel.
What do you need to do to prepare for your next literal or figurative journey? What will you carry with you?
Face it. The key is probably lost, and even if you could find it, the lock is most likely rusted shut. You might have to accept that you are not getting in.
What have you given up on because it was simply not worth the struggle?
