Hot Springs, NC

Let me tell you a little story about what is in Hot Springs, NC... NOTHING.  Seriously.  OK, there is a diner and the Appalachian Trail goes right through town... literally down the sidewalk, but the whole town is about 4 blocks long.  Seriously.  Yet, here I am spending a day in town, sitting around, doing laundry, buying food for the next 4 days... the usual... zero days, SO NICE!

Seems I should have something important to tell you having reached nearly 272 miles... but I don't.  I rolled into town yesterday around 1 pm... EXHAUSTED.  The weather has been hotter, the mountains don't seem as tall, but I am TIRED... tomorrow I will have been hiking for 4 weeks... INSANITY!!!  I needed a day off to NOT hike, to sit, to watch the world go by... even though there is NOTHING in this town, it is nice to just BE.

I wonder how often I should do that in real life?  How often do I intentionally just SIT?  How often do I just BE and let the world go by?  I get so caught up in DOING, I get so caught up in needing to ACCOMPLISH, I get so caught up in WORKING... sometimes I even feel guilty when I am not doing things... I feel a bit selfish spending time on me, when there is so much to be done and so many people I could be serving and helping....

I think that is an important lesson I am learning on this sabbatical journey.  I am learning tha I can't stop the world around me, but I can stop me for a while.  I can sit and refocus and be still.  Everyone needs that some times... everyone needs to just slow down and BE.

So tomorrow, when I am not just BEING anymore, I will need to spend some time thinking about how to put this practice into my life at home... how to just BE and not feel guilty, how to REST and not always be on GO.

There you have it... profound thoughts from Hot Springs, NC.   =)