The Journey Is The Destination

There’s a saying “if you don’t know where you’re going how will you know when you get there?”

For many years, I believed that we needed to have a destination – a clear goal – so that we knew it when we got there.

The challenge, for me at least, with goal setting, was that I would get stuck on the timeline. I felt like we needed to get there at a certain time – be it a traveling destination or a type of goal – like lose X weight in Y time – kind of timeline.

I have learned that I have extreme anxiety when I have to define a timeline. I’m not opposed to goal setting, or having a destination in mind. In fact, each year I do establish a goal that I would like to accomplish. This year, I’ve already checked one off the list.

Maybe due to the inquisitive nature of my grandmother, who always enjoyed taking random roads just to see where they would go, that I too, became more interested in the journey than the destination. I don’t have anxiety when I’m allowing myself to be adventurous. Not having a specific path in mind. Being curious. The unknown is exciting.

Many times when my cousin and I would be on a road trip, we would often take these off-roads, to sometimes end up at a gravel pit (aka dead end) and have to turn around. While other times we may discover something rather cool that we didn’t know existed. Either way, we gained valuable knowledge about that particular route.

Sometimes we’ve even been “rescued” by another motorist asking us if we were lost. To which we would reply “nope, can’t be lost because we don’t know where we’re going.”

This horsemanship journey that I am now on is a lot like that. There are some road maps (checklists, programs) but there are also lots of places left to explore; the unplanned detours along the way.

Just like when you’re heading toward your destination, and there’s road construction ahead, which didn’t appear on your GPS, but the road crew is detouring you on an alternate route. You will still get to your destination, but sometimes there are reasons for an unplanned detour.

And just like those unplanned detours, we end up in one of two minds. The one which is open to discovering the sights of what may be discovered as a result of the detour, or the other which will grumble and complain about now being late and behind schedule.

I have certainly been in the first mind of being unhappy for the added time that it took to get the destination. I know that I’ve taken this out on my horse as well – and I’m not proud of it. And that is now why I am much more interested in being open to the adventure that my horse and I take, rather than the prescriptive that I have to be at a specific place, at a specific time.

I am much more interested in just being with my horse. Getting back to the reason that I fell in love with the horse in the beginning. It’s quite ironic how I’ve come full circle. Back to wanting to be like the little girl who simply just hung out and snuggled with my horse. What is wrong with that as a destination?

I would say that the hardest part of getting to this destination has been getting past what will other people say or think? There is a lot of pressure put on to get to a certain place, in a certain time.

And perhaps it’s now my age, but I say the “hell with that!”

This journey for me is about embracing the pure joy and magic of the horse. Giving to them more than what they have given me.