Yesterday, on the last day of 2019 – the decade, in fact – my Facebook feed was full of that quotation – you know, the one that talks about today being the first blank page of a new 365 page book, and that we should write a good one. A little googling tells me it’s from to singer/songwriter Brad Paisley, but it’s often unattributed. Regardless, thoughts about writing that book is a little more than metaphorical for me this year.
This year, in fact, we get an extra day – 366, in total – not just the standard number. Canada’s weekly newsmagazine, Maclean’s, got in on the act early and asked a number of people what they would do with that extra day. One of my favourite answers came from the new host of CBC’s The Current, Matt Galloway, who said, quoting a piece he read in the New York Times, that there’s something important we’ve lost about doing ‘nothing’. I’m paraphrasing, but he used another metaphor that struck me as important for my upcoming sabbatical. He talked about how farmers allow their fields to lie fallow, and how that rejuvenates them. He then went on to tie it to the importance of time doing ‘nothing’ to allow for true spontaneity.
When was the last time you didn’t look at your watch because you had yet another commitment – groceries, house cleaning, family commitments, work that required you be somewhere at a specific time? They’re all important, of course and are a vital part of everyday life, but they also starve us of the choices to wander down unexplored trails because we don’t have the time.
I’m extremely fortunate to have the opportunity of a concentrated period of time this year to indulge in letting my own mind fall fallow. It’s still a few months away, but it’s coming quickly and I’m busy getting things ready so I really can let my thoughts wander – and my feet – without caring where either mind or feet go, and how long they travel down paths unknown.
Before then, I have a team to prepare at work, and a couple of colleagues who will be taking on parts of my job to bring up to speed. I have arrangements for my home to make, and story outlines to flesh out a big more before I go. All of this eats up a lot of time in my head, but I try to put the lid on those boxes from time to time, and just let my mind take its own path.
I was musing over Galloway’s words again while walking through the woods in the afternoon (and I did go a different way than usual!), when my eyes were drawn anew to the thin, but fresh, dusting of snow on the thistles along the side of the path. It connected me back to Paisley’s quotation. It seemed as if Mother Nature was giving us all a fresh start for the new year – a metaphorical clean page to start anew. May that we all write a good story on our pages, including the extra one, in 2020.
This is all a longwinded way of saying that while I will continue to blog here from time to time, for the next little while, my scribblings may be more offline than online. And with luck they’ll turn into more than just scribblings in time!
Happy New Year!!!
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Interested in reading more about what Galloway and other Canadians (including politicians and comedians!) would do with their extra day? Check it out here.
