I Went a Different Way

Unforced Movement
Moving without trying to improve anything.

Before I left, I had a few ideas.

Check if the trail was open.

See how muddy it was if it was.

Listen to music, but this time from my own library.

Shuffled.

I went out.

The trail was still closed.

Familiar songs played.

I liked that.

Then they faded into the background.

Other thoughts showed up.

Small ones.

Should I do this. Should I go that way.

Nothing loud. Just there.

Almost immediately, I noticed the ground.

Weeds and grass still wet from the rain.

The early sun hit them and everything looked a little sparkly.

I kept walking.

Then I turned.

Same sidewalks. Just the opposite direction of what I usually do.

It felt slightly off, but not wrong.

I didn’t feel like dancing this time.

But I saw a row of trees spaced out like cones.

I moved through them.

Jogging in and out for a moment.

Like a small training course.

Then I stopped.

Kept walking.

At one point, I thought I should continue the loop exactly.

Make it match.

I hesitated.

Then I turned again.

Into a housing complex I’ve never walked through.

The addresses caught me.

Instead of 1833 A and B, it was 1833 and 1883 1/2.

I stayed on that for a second.

Who decided that?

How does that get written on an envelope?

Then it passed.

I found a few more places to move through.

Then I was back on a path I knew.

Toward the end, something stood out.

There wasn’t any pressure in my breathing.

No tightness.

No sense of needing to catch up to anything.

I noticed it because it wasn’t there.

I thought about how I might feel better now than I did years ago.

Stronger in a quieter way.

There were a few thoughts about not doing this earlier.

They didn’t stay long.

What stayed was something else.

A sense of moving without trying to get somewhere faster.

That felt like enough.