A wise friend once told me, “you have the right to take your time, all the time.”
I was at the time frustrated from having to keep up with an increasingly fast-paced life. I prefer to take things slow; when eating, when writing, even when hiking. It seems to allow me to better digest my surroundings, and my emotions. Especially when hiking. When things long-buried and forgotten start to rise up from the dead and try to befriend you again: old insecurities, fears, and anxieties. When challenged, even in the arms of nature, one can easily get caught up in mindless, inner chatter, and forget that what we take for granted, perhaps the most, is key to peace of mind.
If I would ever get a tattoo, it’d read: “breathe”. At the beginning. At the end. Throughout.