I'm a process over product kind of person so thinking about arriving somewhere is challenging for me. The arrival is not my goal. Even when traveling somewhere I cherish the intermediary parts of the journey. When I was 9 years old our family of 5 took a trip to visit my grandparents near Chicago. This was in December during Christmas holidays and of course there was a snow storm and our flight was diverted to Salt Lake City. We ended up spending 24 hours in the SLC airport before the weather cleared and we were able to continue to our destination. My parents were stressed, my sisters whiny and while I tried to empathize, all I could feel was excited as we settled into our airport floor bed in our snowsuits-cum-blankets.
A similar thing happend when I was 21 and stuck in the airport in Moscow for 48 hours due to scheduling conflicts. I was returning home from a 2 year trip overseas and while I was excited to reunite with my friends and family I couldn't help but celebrate an impromptu extension of my journey.
And so I ask myself: What does it mean to arrive? Is it a time for celebration? Reflection? Mourning? Why do we arrive? Is arrival not another part of the journey?
From the perspective of the spiral we do not arrive anywhere. Or rather the journey is constant...which is one of the reasons for which I am so attracted to the spiral.
The signs I look for therefore are whether or not I'm still journeying. Am I still curious and engaged in the process? Am I contributing in meaningful ways to my own learning process? Am I changing, growing, learning?
The value for me is not so much in arriving, but in continuing with meaning, inspiration and curiosity on my learning journey.
A similar thing happend when I was 21 and stuck in the airport in Moscow for 48 hours due to scheduling conflicts. I was returning home from a 2 year trip overseas and while I was excited to reunite with my friends and family I couldn't help but celebrate an impromptu extension of my journey.
And so I ask myself: What does it mean to arrive? Is it a time for celebration? Reflection? Mourning? Why do we arrive? Is arrival not another part of the journey?
From the perspective of the spiral we do not arrive anywhere. Or rather the journey is constant...which is one of the reasons for which I am so attracted to the spiral.
The signs I look for therefore are whether or not I'm still journeying. Am I still curious and engaged in the process? Am I contributing in meaningful ways to my own learning process? Am I changing, growing, learning?
The value for me is not so much in arriving, but in continuing with meaning, inspiration and curiosity on my learning journey.