Connection, Not Completion

I see on the trail, people moving fast, eyes down, tracking miles.
"Doing the work" is compelling, when we taste momentum.
One more protocol, breakthrough, another layer peeled back.

I see myself checking boxes, urgent and focused.
A project with a finish line, as if the goal was to complete myself.
Instead of learning how to be here, in the now, present, and alive.

All the while, missing the light through the trees.
The way the moss softens stone, the quiet that lives between steps.

Healing is not a full-time job.
Living has to exist too. Joy, connection, spontaneity.
Yes, nature is my sanctuary, but I'm not trying to live only in the wild.

Connection doesn't just happen outside, other people reflect us too.
Sometimes painfully, sometimes beautifully.
And being witnessed in our humanity...

Roots us just as deeply as the trail.

→ Related: Blackberries & Grace
→ Also: Letting the Soil Rest

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* peer reflections: not medical or therapy advice. *