Driving through the Canadian Rockies, I found myself captivated by the podcast “The Vagabond’s Way: Lessons from Decades of Travel with Rolf Patts,” hosted by Aaron Miller from Armchair Explorers. I’ve been spending a lot of driving time listening to podcasts that aim to inspire travelers, and Armchair Explorers has become one of my favorites. This particular episode resonated with me so deeply that I immediately shared the link with my Mom. The lessons Patts shared from his extensive travel experiences echoed the ones I’ve been learning through my own adventures.
One poignant sentiment stood out to me, centered around the way we mechanize time in our modern, habit-driven lives. Patts described how we’ve become accustomed to maximizing every moment, making each day, hour, and minute as productive as possible. In contrast, he sought stillness in moments, hours, and days, embracing what he calls “organic time.” Living by “organic time” involves leisurely activities like spending hours reading in a coffee shop or lying in an Indonesian lagoon long enough to notice a new color of butterfly. It encourages us to embrace moments of boredom, allowing creativity to flourish.
This discussion on “organic time” versus “mechanized time” prompted me to reflect on the artificial rules I impose on myself. Like many, I often feel the need to fill every second of the day with something substantial, even during my travels. While I don’t aim to plan much during my travels, I still find myself giving myself rules to follow. I have to stay in this city for this many days. I have to see these attractions. I have to eat this food. I have to… I have to… I have to. These rules translate to every other part of my life too. I have to add value to my resume. I have to write a travel blog. I have to exercise every day. I have to eat a certain amount of food. I have to leave the coffee shop. I have to. It’s endless. Patts challenges the idea of having to follow these rules, urging us to consider what would happen if we allowed ourselves to just be and let life work for us, rather than the other way around.
A recent experience in Calgary brought this lesson home for me. Housesitting for an English Bulldog named Porter, I initially sought a warm place to stay. However, I soon felt stuck and suffocated, realizing that I had made the mistake of planning to stay put for over a week. It was here that I realized I had messed up not once but twice. The first wa. The second was setting self-imposed rules on myself during that week. Instead of allowing myself the freedom to follow my instincts, I ended up feeling frustrated when I couldn’t adhere to my arbitrary guidelines. I told myself I have to hike, explore, and make the most of my time. I ended up filling my time with TV, movies, and hot baths. The problem wasn’t that I spent the week doing little-to-nothing, but it was that I gave myself rules that I inevitably failed to follow. When I found myself “failing” most days to accomplish something, I got mad at myself. Looking back, embracing gratitude for the present moment would have brought more fulfillment during my stay in Calgary.
A quote from Thoreau, shared by Patts in the podcast, resonated deeply with me: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…” I have always loved this quote, but I’ve mostly focused on just the first sentence. Later in the quote, Thoreau says “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” To live so deeply that you quite literally suck the marrow out of it, wow! To me this means to live life on your terms, by your own organic clock, and to experience each fleeting moment as the miracle it is. We are never promised retirement, and we are not even promised tomorrow. We are only ever promised this precise moment, so we have to be grateful and cherish it.
The two sentiments of sucking the marrow out of life and not holding yourself to any rules seem counteractive, because how can you make the most out of life without making sure you fill every second of the day. I would beg to argue though that they are one and the same. When we allow ourselves to be free in the world without mechanizing our time, we are then forced to become bored and, in response to this boredom, grateful. When you are bored but grateful, the smallest things become meaningful.
Patts has gleaned numerous lessons from his adventures, and I’ve encountered many as well. Yet, the most crucial one remains clear: we must live life on our terms, finding gratitude in each precious moment, whether in awe-inspiring landscapes or the comfort of home. It’s about shedding the mechanization and self-imposed rules that exhaust us, hindering our ability to truly savor life’s marrow.
hic et nunc
Bekah- longwayaround