Treadmills.

The tide has come.

Waves crashing at Playa Santiago's black lava sand beach, La Gomera

From My Eat+Travel tales by a gypsy available via ChristinaSantini.com

Some of my best travel memories and moments are spent sitting.
Sitting and watching...
Watching the leaves twirl around and play in the fall wind.
Watching the waves as they crash on shore.
Watching the birds as they fly in streamlined uniform shapes.
Watching time as it flies by.
And I have nowhere to go, nothing I need to do.
I am right where I need to be.
And there are no thoughts.
Only the sounds of silence - brushing against my salty-white sunburned skin; blowing right through me.
I feel alive. I feel like every cell in my body is connecting.
There are no worries. There is no tomorrow.
The sun begins to set - dusk has come. Perhaps 5 hours have passed. It matters not. I think that's amazing. How time flows.
Contentment.

Admittedly, I remember a time where I too thought I needed to go somewhere constantly. Every travel was spent running. Constantly moving and pushing oneself. There was no savoring the moment. Thank goodness I paced myself and I realized that I was completely missing the point on speeding up on life's treadmill. Who was I trying to outrun?

And then on my way back up the mountains today I got passed by some travellers dressed in work-out gear pacing back and forth up those gorgeous steps carved out from the rocks in the mountain. And I wonder - where are they going? Didn't they just get here - escaping the treadmills and the rat race? And all they did was bring it with them in a suitcase.
I wonder if they will ever get to know what breathing feels like. What it feels like to walk without a pedometer. To walk not for purpose but for pleasure.
Because there is nothing you can achieve that can bring on that complete contentment of just being. Being in the skin you are in. Breathing the sweet, salty air and feeling the sun kiss your skin.
Watching life as it rolls in.
And I think that is amazing.