The Book Passage travel writing and photography conference is a kind of touchstone place I keep returning to, and yet each year finds us all moving forward in our lives and work as well.
Everywhere I looked, I was transported to another corner of the globe, and re-connected with the journeys I’ve taken. I realized the disparate pieces of our lives connect more often than we think.
It’s about an awareness, and an acknowledgement that just two seconds of our attention can isolate one of a million tiny pieces that make up each day and elevate it to a moment worth remembering.
As we walked the beach at Pillar Point, soaked in the last of that day’s light, and watched mammoth waves twist and tumble, all I could think was: These are the moments worth making space for.
On the surface, these slow moments couldn’t be more different. But at their core, I’d like to think there’s a powerful truth connecting them: that slowing down has only to do with how we’re moving.
I spend so much time focusing on the big moments ahead – the meetings, the workshops – that I forget to focus on all the steps in between, the Slow Moments that actually make up our lives.
I will be leaving Turkey grateful for this unexpected lesson in navigation. We have to trust that the direction our compass is pointing in – whether what lies ahead is a less defined path, or perhaps there’s no path at all – is worth taking. It always is.
And so it was that I decided to return to Iž, to circle back to who I was the last time I was here. I wanted to sketch the island again – and to honor the crazy journeys that life delights in sending us on. As I sketched, all I could think was: thank you.
Carrying me through each step was the gift that Book Passage gave me, and others: assurance that we are on the right path. That every page written, every risk taken, and every dream believed are actually leading somewhere.
This week five years ago, I stepped on a plane bound for London – little did I know how much that trip would change my life. It’s this sense of possibility that keeps me moving through the world, as well as through life.