After spending time in the city I like to jump on the ATV and head out on the trails when I return home. Normally I just ride around looking for interesting places to sit and chill for a bit, but yesterday was different. As I was riding around I found it hard to keep my eyes on the trails. To keep myself from slamming into a tree, I would pull off the trail once in a while to stare my surroundings.

Everywhere I looked there was vivid color. Not stopping to take it all in would have been an insult to mother nature.

I have lived in places where the leaves change color my whole life. I never really appreciated it. Being in the open air completely immersed in the color is something I never really experienced. Sure, I used to go on “color tours” in a car, but that felt less personal. I’d also go for walks in the woods, but the walks made me focus on what was in front of me and never gave the sense of scale I experience out on the trails surrounding our home.

Maybe it’s the area we live in, or that I am more open to letting nature absorb me, but when mother nature performs her best Bob Ross impersonation I can’t look away.

Click to check out this post from last year.

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I’m a worrier. It’s annoying as hell. When things are out of my control I tend to worry. Not because I want to control a particular outcome, I worry because the outcome is uncertain and may be an outcome I do not want. One I did not ask for.

I think it’s safe to say that all of us like certainty and would like to bitch slap its evil twin uncertainty. We like to know what we are up against. Knowing every aspect of what we are up against lets us plot the moves needed to guarantee our desired outcome. Not knowing all aspects of what we are up against can paralyze us. Don’t believe me? Ask a fainting goat.

I am learning that letting go and embracing the unknown can be rewarding. Let’s look at a couple examples.

Example One:

• The Situation: You’re kayaking on a lake, in the fog. You have limited visibility to what surrounds you. You’re trying to make your way home. You’re tentative because you’re worried about what you may encounter. You slowly move across the water creating what-if scenarios in your head while missing out on the beauty that surrounds you.

• The Outcome: The trip home takes forever and when you arrive your nerves are shot. The trip was uneventful and you are left with no story to tell and a need to slam down some bourbon to calm your nerves.

Example Two:

• The Situation: You’re kayaking on a lake, in the fog. You have limited visibility to what surrounds you. You’re trying to make your way home. You’re enjoying the peace and quiet. Letting go of the uncertainty that lurks beyond your field of view, you embrace the tranquility of your surroundings. Then out of the fog appears a mother goose. Not just any mother goose. A pissed off mother goose. She attacks. You react by paddling toward home at a speed an olympic athlete would be proud of, all the while trying to keep from shitting your pants.

• The Outcome: You make it home quicker than expected and when you arrive you’re full of energy while your heart is racing. The trip was very eventful and you’re left with a great story and a need to slam down some bourbon to celebrate your new water kayak speed record.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, when you let uncertainty control your thoughts you become paralyzed and miss out on what the journey can provide. When you go with the flow and are open to what may lie ahead you can enjoy what is here and now.

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We’re at the cottage. WE’RE AT THE COTTAGE! It’s been a weird summer for us. Between moving and renovating we have had very little time to enjoy the cottage or breathe. Now that the renovation is winding down and the house is sold, we moved to the cottage, which you could say is now home.

When I’m at the cottage the first thing I do every morning when I wake, is look at the lake. You never know what you’ll see. Some days it’s extraordinary, others it’s ordinary, but every day here is calming.

The world can appear to be completely chaotic, but if you stop to look around it’s really a beautiful place. Some time you just need to put social media aside, shut the phone off and just be.

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Amid the chaos of moving and renovating the apartment we are moving to, we took a much needed sanity break to visit my sister who was in Burlington for a conference. My wife has not seen any of my family in person for two years, so we jumped in the car and made the two hour drive from Montréal to Burlington to meet for dinner.

We arrived a bit early and took a walk through town and ended up down at the waterfront. We were immediately taken in by the charm of the city.

After meeting up with my sister, we wondered over to the Revolution Kitchen for dinner. A small vegan restaurant tucked away on an inconspicuous side street. With decor any Instagrammer would love, with food to die for. After dinner we walked back to the waterfront to watch the sunset and then took a stroll down Church Street.

Burlington is a quaint city which seems to have a lot to offer. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long, but I think we’ll go back to explore more in the future.

It was a great visit.

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