Since I don't know when, I went on holiday, a sort of a running retreat in the Highlands of Scotland.
I was prepared for running, something that I like doing but surprisingly to me, it ended being less about running or hiking or anything like that, in fact, for me the trip turned out to be more about people.
The trip was centred around running, but we did some other things too, like going for dinner together in a small highland town, drinking at the local pub, embracing the local people and doing yoga in the town hall, and having cold water immersions in the nearby lake. Its these times that we spent together which I remember the most, and not really the running, which to me became almost secondary.
The backdrop was the picturesque highlands of Scotland, in the quite, cold wilderness among rising mountains and green lush running trails and fresh air accompanied by waters, sometimes still, sometimes trickling down country trails as if the mountains were leaking.
There were about 15 people, I think, from just about everywhere, and we were all strangers thrown into this pot of magic, and interestingly over the duration of the trip, it was the people that transformed a running retreat on paper, into the sort of long holiday trip you remember as a kid, where it was about just being, having more fun with people you know, eating and celebrating and just being excited.
It was about being in a safe place, comfortable but being part of a new and exhilarating experience, sort of like the first time you experienced something you really liked, and you realised you still had a week to do it. People had fun, they laughed and they joked and they seemed to embrace the opportunity to be themselves, and people let others be themselves. I enjoyed that perhaps the most. No one expected anything from anyone, from me.
Though, while the trip was absolutely spectacular and absolutely worth it, there were realizations, some uncomfortable and some exhilarating and therapeutic. I think sharing real human feelings and realisations is a therapeutic digression from the reality of life.
Pull away the mud, meals, running and joking, and we're people who are dealing with the inevitability of life, trying to figure out what it all means for us, calibrating our situations and purpose in this world.
I think this is what affected me the most because I count myself part of this group too, and it's true what Thoreau said: we are truly living a life of quiet desperation.
And so this trip was more spiritual than physical. It was getting in touch with ourselves, realizing what it is we're really missing, and figuring out how we're going to deal with that. For some it was sharing, being, having fun, and expressing and for others, like me, it was listening, and embracing those wanting thoughts that have been sidelined for far too long.
My pursuits are singular, and this trip was me realizing that I'd like to become someone more, more able to connect with people, more able to at least trust other people, so I can share my own expression of fun and enjoyment.
That's a result.
Onwards and upwards!