I have long been someone who tries to take hurdles in his stride, both personally and professionally. The secret, I think, is in not seeing them as hurdles but, rather, as among those things that you just need to do to get where you want to be. You see, the problem with hurdles is if you imagine them as such and that’s what they become, at least to you. So, for me that steady challenge is something that might make me apprehensive but it’s also something that I quite relish. Indeed the quiet, personal satisfaction that it provides can be extremely satisfying. As well as making you look for the next challenge.
Now, with a great leap of narrative, I’m going to relate this to Gaynor, my wife and someone who also has just those qualities; ones that I spent years looking for in someone else. You see, she appears to have a similar disposition and attitude, albeit more hidden than mine. She, for example, won’t be told what to do and has to do things in her own way, albeit more quietly than me. Which leads me to the point of this blog which is that it may be satisfying to overcome your own hurdles and embark on something new; however, it can be even more so to see someone that you care about do something similar.
Well, after a good few years during which we have gone for walks around the capital and elsewhere finding and photographing those hidden places that can be just off the beaten track, what I call my little bits of Wonderland, Gaynor has now set up her own website. Called, appropriately enough, “Just Off the Beaten Track”, it chronicles our weekend wanderings. Along with the walking, she’s developed an eye for a photograph and, do you know, I think that I’m more pleased than she is with the result.
Perhaps there’s a lesson in here about looking for something in someone and finding hidden depths that correspond to the hidden places that we now find (and chronicle) together. Ain’t life grand?