Highway thoughts | Roadtrips and time to think

About once a month, I make the trek to Harrisonburg, Virginia to visit my boyfriend and see friends. It’s at least a four-and-a-half hour drive each way, which gives me plenty of time to think.

A friend at work got got me into podcasts a few months ago — namely one: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. Dax, along with the wonderful Monica Padman, have a different guest on every episode, often celebrities, many of whom I admire. I listened to two episodes on yesterday’s drive up to the mountains, then had music on for the last stretch. This kept my mind active the whole drive, but in a very specific way — for all but 30 minutes, I was focusing intently on conversations I was listening to, and getting to know comedians better. Then I had 30 minutes to let my mind run wild, which happened right as I arrived into the familiar territory that felt (in a sense) like home.

What resulted from all of this was an inner-monologue focused on where my life is now compared to when I first made my way to Harrisonburg. I’ve had this same conversation with myself several times in the past year, but this particular time was informed by hours of eavesdropping on conversations about the journeys these actors had in their lives.

The specific episodes I listened to were ones with the cast of The Good Place. I’m always happy to talk about my newfound love of The Good Place, but that’s beside the point. Ted Danson and D'Arcy Carden actually talked fairly little about the show on their episodes. Instead, the thing I really took from both episodes was that neither one had any idea where their career — or life — would go when they were in their 20s.

As often as I reflect on how much my life has changed in the last six months, I don’t quite stop enough and wonder what in the world could be in store for the years to come.

That was what made this drive so nice.

A lot of times, life moves at a fast pace and you just do your best to keep up with it. I try as much as possible to live in the moment, but it’s great to take a few minutes to be in a state of wonder about the future — especially when driving through the mountains.

The best time to think about unknowable things like the future is (in my opinion) in open spaces that that fill you with awe. Thinking about the future while looking at a calendar makes me too critical. Talking about the future with others can make me nervous, or overthink it. It’s only when I am entirely on my own, just soaking up the world around me, that I can honestly say to myself: I have no idea what the next five years could bring. And that’s okay. That’s exciting.

Thankfully, I had a long drive to take a deep breath or two and get lost in the bewilderment.