Slowing Down in the English Countryside

The Busy Nature of Humans

Busy streets, busy people, busy stores, busy life, busy mind. Busy is the best word to describe the state of being I exist in a lot of the time. I don’t consciously choose it, but I suppose it is a choice, so I subconsciously choose it. Maybe life really isn’t that busy, but I allow myself to believe that it is, that there’s never enough time, or that I'm running out of time. 

Time for what though? To just be more busy? That’s the question. We often find ourselves in this cycle of constant motion, moving from one thing to the next. Many of us hardly ever stop to look around and enjoy the moments that so often pass us by. 

Even when I travel, there are so many things I want to see, so I pack my itinerary to the max. It often means rushing to one destination and then the next, only really stopping to take a few photos. 

On the last trip I went on, I decided I’d had enough of the rushing to and fro; it was time for me to stop telling myself I was busy and make time to enjoy my surroundings.

A Quiet Morning with Sheep in the Cotswolds

It was an early morning, and I woke up to dewdrops on the old iron-clad window of a quaint cottage in the little village of Stow-on-the-Wold. I rolled out of bed, woke up my sister, slipped into the bathroom to quickly get dressed, grabbed my book, put on my boots, and off we went. 

A few days earlier, we discovered an old church. If you walked to the back of the grounds, there was a little gate that led out to a sheep pasture. We saw multiple people walking their dogs through the field, so we figured it would be ok if we went in, which is exactly what we did. 

A few ancient oak trees stood majestically throughout the pasture, and they looked like the perfect place to sit down and read. I found a cozy spot and began to read an antique copy of Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. For once, the hustle and bustle of travel fell from around me, and I

was able to just sit and be. 

What Travel is Really About

The experience reminded me that maybe I had been missing the point. Travel isn’t about experiencing all the sights, foods, or famous landmarks of a given place, it’s about experiencing the essence of a place. 

In a lot of cases, the sights, foods, and landmarks will be an essential part of feeling the essence and experiencing the culture of a given area. But these are not the purpose; through them, the purpose can be formed. 

So what I would recommend is being more intentional with what you put on your itinerary. Do you really want to see that thing, or is it just something you feel pressure to put on your list because everyone else posts pictures about it? Next time, give the itinerary a bit of breathing room. This will give you more time to explore, wander down a cobblestone road, or discover a hole-in-the-wall hidden gem. You never know what some extra time might surprise you with. 

Maybe bring a little journal or sketch pad with you to use while waiting for your food at a restaurant, to capture the essence of a place. By trying to capture it, you will be paying more attention to it. Or next time you're waiting in line on a trip, try looking around and observing everything you can instead of looking at your phone. It’s always going to be the little things that make the biggest difference.

- Avery