Savouring the journey
As time passes, it becomes clearer that journeys are more important than destinations. This is not to suggest that we should wander aimlessly through life, without any goals or ideals. It’s only when looking back on the way things have happened that one sometimes realises that a goal or aspiration was actually attained, even though it might not have appeared like it at the time.
Almost twenty years ago, I was working on a show in a leading regional theatre. The company had many artists of high repute in the team for that particular production. A senior actor (who is now of blessed memory) took me aside and reminded me of when I first met him. I was fresh faced and ambitious, but still figuring out what I could do with my talents at that point in time. That encounter was probably fifteen years before we had the conversation that I’m referring to now.
He told me I had done very well in my job as the show’s composer and musical director. He went on to say to me “this is as good as it gets”. I understood what he meant on an intellectual level, but it is only now that I understand his message in emotional terms.
I have come to realise that we can meet fellow humans who can enrich moments of our personal journeys at any point in time, but each of us needs to be in touch with our inner selves and know what we’re here to do, in the long run.
The personal and the universal are lodged in all of us. If we reflect about the best ways to use our time and energy while we’re here and do our best to be in consonance with those, isn’t that what it’s all about?
