I am in Austin this week on a work related trip. A work related trip means a budget trip. There is not a lot of money budgeted for entertainment. For low budget entertainment I like to get out and about, relaxing in my walking shoes.
For me being out of town without a lot of cash is easy. I like to walk. If given the choice when out of town if something is in walking distance I walk there instead of drive.
Walking gets me out of my hotel room for a longer period than driving somewhere close will. A few minute drive can become a thirty minute walk. Two thirty minute walks to and from where I am going to have my dinner means an hour or more of my evening is taken up in an enjoyable way.
What is a walk like in a strange place? I have taken more than a few, so I will share a few stories. Walking in some places was not the best decision I could have made. Walking in other places has been a unique experience. Generally an hours walk around the area I am staying is fun and relaxing.
I once wandered lost in the streets of an American ghetto. I was followed for about twenty-five minutes by three young men, who could not quite bring themselves to bother me, but followed me in case they had the opportunity. I was lost and it was not fun. In Israel I walked as a tourist in places where no tourist should have been walking. People were being kidnapped, and buses were blowing up. Most people with me thought it was too risky to be out and about and they stayed in their rooms, very bored. In one small town where I stopped for a night, I watched porch lights come onm heralding the direction of my walk. Porch lights lit my way for almost a mile before I returned to where I started. I was impressed with the speed of the telephone and the power of a stranger in a strange town.
Some trips like this one to Austin are very good. Today I went on an hour stroll along the infamous Austin river walk near the South Congress Bridge. I watched people jog and walk by. People cruising along on bicycles from one place to another. People walking in groups, and people walking with their dogs.
I had a interesting chat with a homeless man who had the motor portion of a ceiling fan. He was trying to turn it into a generator for his personal use. While he tinkered with the motor pondering possibilities, he shared some of his life with me. I never would have had that chat from my car or room.
I walked my way back to the South Congress Bridge, and asked around for a salad bar within walking distance. There happened to be a salad bar of sorts about eight blocks up the street. I walked hearing bits of conversations in dialects I never heard before. Possible they are tourists like myself, or perhaps business people working hard on closing the deal.
During my walk back, homeless people were staking out their sleeping quarters for the evening. The incongruity of skyscrapers worth untold millions with homeless men and perhaps women sleeping in their daytime shadow was a study of contrasts.
I arrived back on the South Congress Bridge in time to observe the nightly flight of approximately 750,000 bats starting their nightly feed. While waiting for the flight, I chatted with people standing next to me about traveling, they gave me their impressions of their Jerusalem visits. What a small world, a stranger on a bridge having been to Jerusalem too.
Over all, getting out walking, listening, and talking to complete strangers is a thrifty and enjoyable way to pass part of an evening. Walking in some neighborhoods is indeed risk taking at its best. For most walks however, being out and about on foot is enjoyable, and a stress reliever. Use common sense, leave your valuables and extra money in your room, and get out and see what the locals take for granted.
If you are fortunate, you will get the kind of comment I did last night when I wandered too far from the beaten path. A car slowed, a window came down, and a womans voice said, “You lost”, and she laughed. I turned back the way I came knowing the next vehicle to stop may not be so friendly. If you are not that lucky, you may get a little nervous. Use your head and don’t stray any farther away than you have already. Head back to where you started and walk in a different direction.
I made a joke to the woman about hearing the stampede of feet coming towards the exit to help when a man showed up and said he would be more than happy to help me load up. He pulled my cart out to my truck, helped me load up, and asked if I could manage unloading by myself. I told him thank you for the help, and yes, I could manage the unloading myself.
Your life away from your home until now was always changing, but you came home to the routine of your life, whatever that may be. Now something is not working, and it does not make sense when you think about, because until now life was good, and it makes no sense all of a sudden.
That may sound confusing if you are not a math person. I think of this as measuring or monitoring at certain times whether I am ahead or behind, and by how much. It is not uncommon to sit down at a poker table and win at a very high rate, sometimes three or more times the normal expected win rate of a good player. The opposite happens too, where a player finds themselves losing at the same rate.
Our job is a large part of us and who we are. If we choose poor behaviors at work, those poor behaviors eventually spill over into the rest of our life. Choose a positive behavior at work, and our life will be better for it.
If you are not happy with your life, what are you not happy with? What is your biggest problem or concern right now. What is your second biggest problem? What is the third biggest problem in your life? If you haven’t guessed by now, three problems is a good stopping point to get start fixing your life.