Today
was a special day. Why you may ask. After so many days of preparation ( in
other words procrastination) I finally gathered myself up to go for a morning
walk! Let me explain the background story. Well, I had to be driven to the tip
of a burn-out at work to decide finally to take some time off , just like that.
I wasn’t flying back home, I wasn’t
physically sick, I didn’t have any plan as such – Without any of the above
reasons, taking leave from work had seemed like a crime to me until a few days
back. But as I said before, when we are so worn out and you start questioning
the whole point of it, that is when you finally take those simple decisions
which are the most important, like in my case I just applied for a week long
holiday. Reason – I need a break, that’s it! And thankfully it was approved without much questions asked as well!
Thus
began my big 5 day holiday , without any specific agenda. So I had sent my son
off to school and I didn’t have to hurry up to log in to my work, and I started
feeling quite special while I sat on the couch sipping the hot tea with the
newspaper without having the thought at the back of my mind, of which task to
first take up in the work day. That’s when I thought why not to have that
morning walk which I have been planning for ever. For the record, we lived in a
beautiful green community with lots of parks and trees and fresh air, and
basically if some one was not already going walking , he or she should either
be crazy or lazy or a workaholic like me. So today was the day I thought , what
better thing to start my very precious holiday- and thus off I went for the
morning walk around the big ground near our home.
It
was a pleasant morning too, adding to my joy- just the right amount of
sunshine! I started off with the mandatory selfie , to mark my new beginning 😊
and shared it already in my family group- even before I started walking. And
once I reached the ground, I decided to take a few rounds around it. There were
many people who seemed like regulars – the good boys and girls who were
apparently doing this since a long time. The first two rounds were very focused
on my steps , the pace etc. Afterwards, my attention started moving around- I
started observing the surroundings, the people, their conversations were
catching my attention even more- not that I was overhearing, but everything
seemed to be vivid to me somehow.
I
noticed there was a small beautiful family of a mom, dad and their toddler
daughter who were taking the stroll- and the dad stopped to pick a flower and
give it to the girl, I saw her happiness and the joyful cry she gave to see
that flower- even more refreshing was to see that dad’s face , how he was
beaming with joy with such a simple moment. And as I moved forward, I saw two
old women who were taking very slow walks alongside me, had sat down on the
park benches to take rest. I was sure they would be grand-moms who had flown
from their homeland to Dubai, to be with their children , taking care of their
grandchildren. From their appearance I could understand that they would not be
from the same native place, still they seemed so much at home, and they would
have become friends here in this very park, during these morning walks only.
They were in some deep animated discussion, most probably it must have been
about that joint ache which they both suffered or some story back home. I was
amused to see how people can connect without much in common, not even with a
common language, but there is often some
thin common thread that bonds people together, especially when you are on a
foreign land.
With
all these sights, I didn’t even realise that I had completed six rounds around
the big ground! I was painstakingly checking the steps meter before to see when
I can stop, but the moment I forgot myself and observed the atmosphere, time or
the effort didn’t seem to be a bottleneck. I think it is always the case that
we are looking so inward and focusing on the “me, myself” that it starts to strain a lot,
rather we should be looking around, at other people- observe the little nuances
, what makes people happy, what makes them tense, look around at nature’s
little big marvels. I had managed to see lot of such moments today which were
pure reflections of some of the best human traits- love , care, affection ,
friendship, empathy, determination and many more. I returned home feeling much more refreshed
and fulfilled than the content of shedding a few calories- After all these may
be the real perks of a morning walk , I told myself to forget the calories and
the weighing machine- my mind was more enriched,
that is what ultimately matters, isn’t it? Happy walking!
