How do you like to travel? Do you pick a destination and then spend every spare minute researching what to do and where to go and what to eat? Sometimes that is the best way to make sure nothing important is missed. A lot of people have one opportunity to get to a location in their lifetime and no one wants to get home to find out they missed the Grand Canyon when they were in Arizona or Mount Rushmore when they drove through South Dakota. The internet has made trip researching and planning easier than ever with the advent of such sites as TripAdvisor and Google. Experiences by other travelers are openly shared on the internet helping to point the compass in the right direction. I decided to approach my last trip more like a wandering nomad with only a general sense of driving west or east today, north or south tomorrow. It went against every grain of Type A personality planning that I have carried around since birth. This was not easy...at all. I find comfort and security in plans. I know what I'm doing. I don't have to worry about what might happen if... I decided to do it because someone I admire a lot used to travel that way. That person was Ernst Haas. He talked about it in his film documentary "To Dream With Eyes Wide Open": I was always accused of not knowing where I am going and what I'm doing. This is really true because there is an element of surprise which for me is very, very important. Could this really be true, I wondered? Had I been behaving like a banker my whole life and worse yet, on my photography trips? Taking out every ounce of creativity as I marched through my itineraries, checking off my to-do list one by one? I decided to put my trust in Ernst Haas. Just once. I took comfort knowing that if it didn't work, I wouldn't do it again. I knew where I was sleeping at night and that was it. I let the car do the driving and if something piqued my curiosity I explored it, letting myself be available to any whim that arose. From the very first photo of my trip, it lead me to off the beaten track places like this: to the very last photo of my trip: Was it successful? I don't know, but I felt like this method of travel worked out very good for me and I will definitely try it again. On repeated occasions I remember thinking how lucky I was and being grateful for every moment I had and working like crazy before the clock ran out of time.
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So here we are on the last square of the 2012 game board. The tendency for our society is to reflect on what went right, what went wrong, and how we can do it better next year. Kind of like the end of a book and the subsequent analysis of it. Tomorrow we start a new book, metaphorically speaking.
It’s hard to know what the title of 2013′s book will be until later, but I suppose we could put a title on 2012′s book now. Of course, we all have a different title for our books. Mine would probably be called “The Realignment” or maybe “The Awakening” to describe the clarity I experienced this year. Things I haven’t seen my whole life suddenly became clear to me. It’s like the debris in the water settled and I could finally see to the bottom of the lake. I’d say that was a pretty good year to have been the beneficiary of that life reward. We can think about the theme we would like 2013′s book to be, but only so much of how the book will be written is in our control. In my opinion, it’s kind of like this. You can steer the car but you have very little control over the traffic. The goal is to steer the car the best that you can, knowing that everyone makes mistakes. So try not to be too hard on yourself or others. That makes me think about New Year’s Resolutions. I am one of those people who stopped making giant New Year’s Resolutions a few years ago. I really didn’t see the point in it. They say that around 90% of people break their resolutions within a few weeks of making them. “Doomed to failure” say psychologists. That just sets people up to feel bad about themselves. This is to be distinguished from goal setting which is an entirely different thing. I think writing down goals and dreams is a very worthwhile activity. Why not make some resolutions you can try to keep? Maybe choose something that is a little more reachable? Here are some I’ve undertaken in previous years and they’ve been fairly successful for me. These are just ideas, but you will get the drift. Try to stop using disposable bags. Take re-usable bags or boxes to the grocery store for shopping. I keep them in the back of my car. It took awhile to get into a regular habit but now I rarely use plastic or paper bags in the store. Turn off the water while I’m brushing my teeth. I still have to work at that one but I keep trying. Oh, ok, so there’s only two. That I can think of anyway. Well that’s kind of embarrassing. Here’s one I’m going to try next year. Come up with a positive expectation for the day before I step out of bed. Maybe I’ll write it down before I go to sleep so I don’t miss it on a day I’ve slept too late. I’ll start off easy at first. Tomorrow’s will be “wish for a Happy New Year.” If you really insist on making a big New Year’s Resolution and haven’t come up with anything yet, consider picking one from the top 12 resolutions of 2012.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/ If none of these ideas appeal to you, perhaps you could say that your resolution is to keep your resolution (any resolution) for one week. The above website says that 75% of people keep their resolution for the first week, so then you can call it a success. My goal is success and doing whatever is necessary to be successful. Successful people = happy people = happy world, or something like that. Well, the clock is ticking so I’d like to say that I am hopeful everyone out there has some positive things they can remember 2012 by and I also wish you a smashing good time tonight and a very happy morning tomorrow! Happy New Year’s Eve! |
AuthorI am a photographer who lives in Minnesota. I blog about Minnesota, photography, music, food and miscellaneous topics. Archives
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