Capturing a Moment

Having travelled extensively we have been privileged to see some of the most spectacular locations and have some of the most incredible experiences.

Just before Megan and I got married, a friend turned around to me and said ‘just make sure you take a moment and savour the day’. She went on to say ‘I remember rushing around so much and making sure everyone was ok, that the day just slipped away from me’. This was a simple statement, but it really got me thinking.

When we were younger, we went on many holidays, but looking back I honestly can’t remember many of them. Don’t get me wrong this isn’t because we didn’t enjoy them, it was just that nothing exceptionally memorable happened. I put this down to being young, as being younger you don’t necessarily appreciate the beauty, the quiet, the food or the location, it’s mainly about the experience.

When I first travelled the world, I remember many days where I was simply excited about what was next. One such example was in Shanghai, a city I didn’t fully appreciate as I was so excited about seeing the Great Wall three days later. It’s a very sad truth, but a truth nonetheless.

This got me thinking about when I lived in Sydney and the vast majority of days went by without anything of note happening. I woke up, went to work, came home, watched TV and slept. It’s pretty much exactly what I was doing at home. Now I know that every day can’t house a Wandering Memory experience, as if they were, the memory or story wouldn’t be so memorable. I sometimes reminisce, why I didn’t just head down the road from my office to see the Opera House, or take the train to Bondi Beach or even just a walk into the Botanic Gardens. It’s a question I can’t answer, only ponder on…

Wow, I really didn’t realise what a profound affect that statement had on me. It really was true, we don’t always appreciate the moment that we are in. This isn’t necessarily just whilst travelling, but can be applied to many aspects of our daily lives at home also.

From that day I promised myself that wherever we were in the world I would take some time away and just breathe, savour the moment and create the memory. Whilst taking that breath, we could appreciate where we were, who we were with, what the experience really was.

I adopted this prior to our wedding, and I remember taking Megan to one side to simply sit on a swing. We didn’t need to say anything, we just sat there and appreciated the moment that we were in, and our experience on the best day of our lives.

Another example was whilst on a recent tour of Western Australia. We came across the surprisingly beautiful town of Kalbarri. We knew little about this gem of a town, and soon found ourselves lost in its splendour. I went for a run one morning, found a spot on a cliff by the beach and took that moment just to appreciate the fact we were in Australia again, the beauty that surrounded us and the fact we were blessed to be living and having such an amazing experience.

I know we all take things for granted, everyone does! That’s normal – But now I have the sense to take that moment and really appreciate everything I have, my surroundings and how lucky I am (we are).

This now allows me to capture the moment and create what I refer to as a Wandering Memory.