Just be

My top 7 ways to ‘just be’ while getting the most out of travel, and maybe even life

As regular readers of the Travel Paradox and Jumble of Sea Glass will know, much of my writing is sparked by a line I’ve read somewhere else. Maybe it’s the opening sentence in a chapter from a massively bestselling self-help book or a thought conveyed in a comment on a substack post, all of a sudden an idea blooms, and I just have to write about it.

Last week I grabbed a line or two from a substack article which I then emailed myself with the subject line Just be. Did I send the whole article to myself? Did I write the author’s name in the email? No. Don’t be silly. That would have made it too easy.

I was so sure that I would remember – haha.

Instead, I spent 20 minutes reviewing every article I might have read on the 22nd until I found the quote – 20 minutes that I should have spent writing. But there you go.

Maybe you’d prefer to listen to this newsletter.

Inspiration

In The Wrestler of Bratislava, Lisa Abend, The Unplugged Traveler, included this line:

“What if we all put our phones away for two minutes and just be?”

It’s the ‘just be’ part that caught my attention. I’ve long been an advocate for ‘just being’ while I travel. I love having the time on my travels to ‘just be’. And fortunately, my partner always brings a book, so he will tolerate me ‘just being’ while he reads, or wanders off to take pictures.

My top 7 ways to ‘just be’ while getting the most out of travel, and maybe even life

Some of the best things that happen while travelling happen when you aren’t really doing anything. You are just being – just watching, just thinking, just taking it all in. One of the most beautiful aspects of slow, slow travel is that you have the time to just be. And in my experience, this is when some of the most interesting discoveries and revelations occur.

These are the 7 things I do so that I have the opportunity to ‘just be’.

Wildlife watching

One of my favourite things to do is to sit by the ocean. But for this ‘activity’, a cliff overlooking the ocean is best. Grab your binoculars, sit yourself down, and wait. Just be.

Every time I’m near the ocean, I have to re-educate myself on what I am looking for. Whales? Dolphins? What clues am I looking for? In a day or two, I am often able to spot something every time I try, even though to begin, I found nothing.

I love this quick development of the watching skill. I love how mesmerizing it can become to spend an hour scanning and exclaiming. It is incredibly soothing. And you will see things that no one else does, even if you don’t have binoculars with you. It takes patience, but for me, it is always worth it. Even if I see nothing.

Walking

I have a confession to make. I have never driven in a foreign country. One – my partner is the primary driver in our relationship (read: he hates being a passenger, and only ‘let’ me drive when he broke his leg a few years ago). Two, and most importantly, we generally choose to walk if at all possible.

You see things when you walk. You experience things when you walk.

Taking a walk is a great way to just be. To reiterate what Lisa was saying, put your phone away. Just walk. Look around. Take in the detail of things. Stop when you see something interesting. Change course to explore whatever takes your fancy.

The best way, in my opinion, to see a place is slowly, at street level.

Take a train or a boat (or a bus, if you must)

Planes have their place, of course they do. But if you want to just be, a train or a boat is much, much better. I particularly like boats. Just watching the world go by is a big part of just being. Letting your mind wander. Taking notice of the sky, or the weather, or the changing light.

It’s in these moments that you open yourself to real revelations. Your mind, in a state of repose, can suddenly answer a big question, or unravel a complex puzzle. It just needed space.

Take your knitting (or other easily portable textile-related craft

Knitting puts your brain into a safe zone. Knitting lowers your blood pressure. Knitting can keep you settled long enough to really see and experience the things around you.

Knitting can also cause random conversation, or just smiles of recognition from passersby. Or, if you’re shy and don’t want to be too obvious in your people watching, you always have your knitting to look down at when you think you might need to be a little less obvious.

Knitting also lets you feel like you are still accomplishing something useful, even when you are just filling your mind with the sights and sounds.

Get out your sketchbook

You don’t even have to draw anything. Just viewing the world through an artist’s eye will help you see things in a way you didn’t before.

Look deeply. Analyze shape and form. Think about perspective and layers. Fully engage with texture and colour.

What about your human or animal subjects? How do they fit in your composition?

Then gently place your pencil between your teeth, or tap the side of your chin with your pen, and look off into the distance with a knowing smile; just enjoy the sense of possibility of what could have been created on the page. Then go and get a coffee.

Try tiny photography

For most of us, this will require getting out our phones – but only for this purpose, okay?

Spend 30 minutes taking pictures of tiny things. Or interesting textures. Or tiny bits of bigger things.

Really focus in. No landscapes. No portraits. Nothing any tourist would recognize.

Focus on the abstract, the unusual, the insignificant.

Don’t overthink it. Just be – and see what you see.

Looking south on the lake, into the US.

Get out on the water

When I’m at home, when it isn’t freezing, one of my favourite ‘just being’ activities is to get out for a paddle in my kayak.

I paddle out away from everyone else, hopefully in a spot that won’t have too many disturbances caused by happy visitors in speed boats or jet skis, and then I just float.

I listen to the birds. I feel the rhythm of the waves. I soak in the sun. I let my fingers dabble in the water. An occasional fish jumps very close to me.

My mind wanders. And sometimes words float through. Here’s something I concocted last summer while floating perilously close to the US border (we share our lake with our US neighbours).

My kayak is a
Water hammock. Calm. Swaying.
Sunshine on the lake.

And then I heard the helicopter coming in low, flying along the border. Better paddle back north before it becomes an international incident.

These are just a few ways that we can add ‘just being’ to our travel itinerary – and our lives.

Is just being an important part of your life? Do you make time when you are traveling to just be? I’d love to hear your stories.

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In case you missed it…

I’ve been posting snippets of my travel journal from our trip to Newfoundland in 2024. I’m hoping to convince others to add Newfoundland to their travel list.

Check out my Notes — they appear periodically (although there will be a lapse while I’m away for a week because I forgot to pack that volume of my journal. Scroll back through my feed.)

Here’s some feedback I’ve received:

JL, funny timing — we were just talking about Newfoundland over brunch today. Your snippets keep nudging it higher on our list. What a place. ~ Kelly of Benthall Slow Travel

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Thanks for spending some time here at The Travel Paradox.

JL Orr

Temporarily of Calgary, Alberta, Canada — playing nursemaid for the week to my world-travelling son as he gets ACL reconstruction surgery on his knee. Wish us both well ;-)