The Long Way Through

Some walks are just walks. You leave the house, put one foot in front of the other, and come back wondering why you didn’t bring a thicker coat. They serve a purpose and nothing more.

Others slip sideways into something else without making a fuss.

This was one of those.

I didn’t head out with a thought to chase or a problem to solve. I just started moving. The path was already there, laid out plainly, trees lining either side as if they’d settled the matter long ago. No drama. No invitation to reflect. Just order, quietly existing.

That sort of calm doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t try to soothe you. It just is. And because of that, it works.

Once I stopped paying attention, my thoughts did what they always do. Old conversations resurfaced. Loose ends drifted back into view. Ideas I’d filed away as “dealt with” clearly disagreed. Nothing heavy. Nothing urgent. Just the usual mental clutter spreading out now that it had room.

That’s how these things tend to start. Not with questions, but with space.

I took the photograph because the path felt familiar in a way that had nothing to do with the place. Straight ahead. No clear end. Enough structure to keep you moving, enough openness to let your mind wander where it wanted. Trees holding the edges together. Ground underfoot doing its quiet job of reminding you that you’re still here.

Still moving.

What I like most is that it doesn’t rush you. There’s no moment where it insists, this is the point. It simply continues. And somehow that’s reassuring. You don’t always need answers. Sometimes direction is enough.

When I turned back, nothing had been solved. No revelations. No tidy conclusions. But something had shifted slightly. The edges felt softer. The internal noise dropped a notch. That was sufficient.

The journeys that matter rarely look like journeys. They look like walks. Like pauses. Like taking the long way through your own head and emerging a little lighter than you went in.

This was just a path. Just trees. Just a moment with a camera.

But it was also time.

And sometimes, that’s the part we’re actually looking for.