Out of routine
Each day was the same. I got up at 5:30, picked up my lunch and went to work. Work consist of similar tasks. Days blended into weeks. Weeks into months. Months into seasons. I was on autopilot.
Now, for a life of me, I cannot recall from where I heard that following tip. Possibly YouTube algorithm sent me down an unexpected path. "To slow down passing of time, do something out of Your routine."
For some odd reason that sit with me for a while. I could not shake that idea off and on my way home, about half way, my curiosity won.
Seemingly unassuming turn, road gently curves off main street and leads between roadside shrine and some bushes. There, asphalt road ends. Seeing that, I was not discouraged, on a contrary even. I go out of my car to see whats next.
As I go, I feel each step becoming harder to make. Boots sank into mud. I climb up the path onto flood embankment. At the top there is a river meander enveloping meadow. Flowers and other weeds blossoms thanks to first sunny days. Trees in distance still without any leafs, somehow lost their dull winter colors. A stroke files past, looking of it's nest left for winter. First one I see that year.
There, at the top of that embankment, I stand for a couple of minutes doing nothing but looking around. I am there, present in the moment. I breathe.
Now It's been almost two years after I walked over that flood barier. As I write I can still vividly recall those 15 minutes over there, the river, the meadow, the mud on path, smell of wetness. Still feels like yesterdays afternoon walk.