The Discovered Treasure
We discovered a treasure for our senses, something we will remember for years to come and I would love to share it with you.
A couple weekends ago Joan (my wife) and I went out for a nice ride to the Bad Dürkheim wine fest. It’s the largest wine fest in the world. It’s more than a wine fest, though. It’s a carnival with lots of rides and, of course, the most important part, lots of delicious food!
Isn’t food the main reason anyone goes to a carnival? Or is that just me?
We love carnivals. But let’s not talk about the rides. I’ve already gone there in a previous post and the wimp inside of me doesn’t want to go there again anytime soon.
We left early one Saturday morning with the plan of finding a decent parking place. Smart move, right? However, things did not go as planned. Something special happened as we drove the winding roads through the luscious forest to Bad Dürkheim.
I got distracted.
When people think of ADHD and distraction they may imagine someone flipping through webpages and watching TV, all the while struggling to focus on a task. This post is not about that kind of distraction. This post is about…
The Good Kind of Distraction
Yes, there’s a good kind of ADHD distraction! (Go ahead, Click Here to tweet that if you want.)
It is something about me that my wife loves!
Maybe you have experienced the excitement of another person when you’ve pointed out something that he or she missed? Whatever it was, it was out of the ordinary enough to catch your keen, but distracted, attention.
Perhaps the other person said in amazement something like:
“Wow! I would have never noticed that!” Or “How did you see that?” Or “Let’s check it out!” Or “Get your eyes back on the road!”
(If so, how about sharing in the comments what was said? I’d love to know.)
Maybe what you noticed led you to a fantastical place?
Isn’t it fun and rewarding when that happens?
How It Works
Joan gets a kick out of living life spontaneously. She knows that when we go on a road trip we could end up somewhere totally unexpected, off the map, so to speak. That’s why she calls our trips, ventures. Really.
It’s exciting when these distractions pay off. Sometimes they don’t, but that’s the price of ‘just going with it’.
Sometimes the distraction leads to a dead end and wasted time. And, of course, there are those times when we’ve taken a detour and missed what we knew would have been fun if we had stayed on track. We’ve learned how to turn the car around or walk back, but we enjoy the journey anyway.
Wherever we go, we are together and that’s what is important.
A couple weeks ago I posted a blog article about the wonderful park we found and visited deep in the forest as we drove home from France. Joan and I had no plans to visit that park. We didn’t even know it existed. I saw an interesting sign and took an immediate, impulsive detour. Joan was all for it, she even got, dare I say it, giddy.
And guess what, it was the very best part of our summer vacation! An accident, a detour, an impulsive act from distraction! We just went with it.
That’s how it works, when it works.
Here are tips to turn road trips or other trips into ventures:
1) When possible, set no limits or constraints about going off track.
2) When distracted by something shiny, point it out and investigate. Unless it is a dangerous wild animal, then run!
3) Be with someone who enjoys going off the beaten path. However, if your friend or partner has something else his or her heart is set on try to respect that and notate the distraction for another time. I have been distracted by places that we could not visit because of commitments. We notated them and we have gone back to some.
* Joan and I have had so much fun and found such interesting places that she now purposely stays on the look out for places we can visit when we are on road trips. It’s turned into a sort of game.
4) Explore! Have fun and enjoy the moment.
These work for us. Maybe you have your own creative ideas for ventures from distractions? Feel free to share them with us.
What We Found
What I was distracted by on our way to Bad Dürkheim was so captivating that we stopped to explore. It was so worth it! I am not going to tell you. Instead, I am going to show you some of the best pictures we took. Unfortunately, I only had my phone’s camera.
Has distraction ever taken you to somewhere wonderful? Share in the comments.
Bryan
