Be in the Moment – You Can Write About it Later!

Two years ago about this time, we were on a wine tasting cruise with AmaWaterways through Germany. We spent a few days in Amsterdam, cruised through Germany and ended up in Paris. Every single thing we did was new to us. We had never been to Europe and never been on a river cruise so every day was a new and exciting adventure with canals! castles! vineyards! and omg the Eiffel Tower!

Neither the travel company I was working for at the time or AmaWaterways had insisted or even mentioned that I should be live-blogging the trip but, for some reason, I put myself in that position.

So, every single late afternoon and evening instead of enjoying the fact that we were on the trip of a lifetime, I was glued to my computer or iPad writing. I had just bought my new iPad and had a cool little keyboard in which it docked and I worked on that little gizmo all over the ship. Here’s how I spent way too much of my time. Instead of admiring the incredible landscape that was outside our window, I was glued to my iPad. I did glance up once in a while!

Writing instead of enjoying the view.

By the time I went on a Caribbean cruise the next spring with some girlfriends, I had figured out that it was not the best idea to try to write about everything I was experiencing daily. I do take my iPad with me everywhere and often a computer as well but I write when I feel like it or when I am particularly inspired not because I have put myself on a deadline. The deadlines I have for the venues for which I write, I plan for well in advance and don’t put myself in a position where I have to do a lot of writing when I travel.

I do write often and a lot when I travel because writing is something I love but I just don’t stress about it. I remember spending hours one night on the river cruise trying to get some pictures into a post and almost crying because it just was not working. In hindsight, I can’t believe I was so concerned about it. Absolutely nobody would have cared if I had written about the trip days or weeks after we returned.

I recently took a Segway tour in Savannah that was quite an experience. I had never been on a Segway and learning to balance while laughing with the rest of the group who were equally inept was a blast. We finally got a little better and tooled around downtown Savannah admiring the gorgeous historic homes and Spanish moss draped trees everywhere. As I zipped along, I thought that I had to be sure I shared these feelings, this joy, when I wrote about the experience. I had to have my words make this fabulous experience come alive for the reader. I spent a few minutes toying with words and doing a little writing in my head and then the guide pointed out another historic site and I realized I needed to just let go.

To not worry about writing about this experience, this day, this story right now.

I just needed to experience it.

I could write about it later.

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