When was the last time you got lost? Lost while traveling through town? Lost in a store? Lost in a book? Lost in an activity? When was the last time you allowed yourself to get lost?
My parents used to make fun of me, as a college student and afterwards, when I would visit them at the beach. Since I was coming from a different starting point, I was therefore responsible for finding my own way to the beach. This was before the current availability and accuracy of GPS devices and, for some reason, I could never seem to get to the beach by using the same way twice. Inevitably, I would miss a turn somewhere and then just find my way – I knew that as long as I stayed heading south and east, I would eventually hit the coast; from that point it was just a matter of deciding whether I needed to go north or south to get to where my parents were. I was able to see some unique sites on the backroads I ended up traveling, going through towns that barely made a map, seeing fields in various stages of growth, finding beautiful buildings or scenes unexpectedly.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to get lost?
Perhaps I was directionally challenged because when I was growing up, if we were in the car for more than 10 minutes, I was lost – lost in a book. When I first started to drive around town as a 15 year-old beginning driver, I had no idea where to go – road names had no meaning to me. I had spent my childhood reading every moment that I was sitting still – I went from a 14-year old child lost in a book to a 15-year old driver lost in a moderately-sized town.
When was the last time you allowed yourself to get lost? If not while traveling somewhere, what about lost in a book? Lost in a moment of fun and spontaneity?
When was the last time you allowed your child(ren) to get lost?
Let’s think about what we lose, by never getting lost.
- When we are never lost, we never get away from it all. Remember when you were last immersed in an amazing movie, so much so that you managed to go over 2-hours without checking your phone or email? When we are always connected, we never truly take a break and get away from it all.
- When we are never lost, we lose creativity. When we get lost (physically or in an idea), we start making maps and images in our head, engaging a cognitive function that is becoming harder and harder to engage.
- When we are never lost, we fail to try new things. When we are physically lost, we end up seeing new towns or trying new restaurants. When we get lost in a store, we find new songs or books or clothes that we like. When we allow ourselves to get away from the known, we learn new interests and ideas.
I encourage you to not only find time to get lost, but make sure that your child(ren) have plenty of time to get lost as well.
This post was inspired by an article from The BBC which can be found here. As with all articles, the opinions of the group or the article do not reflect that of Trinity Academy but are instead provided as starting points for conversation.