A Day Away

 

“Almost everything will work if you unplug it for a few minutes . . . including you.” ~ Anne Lamott

I discovered the concept of getting away in my twenties. It is how I fell in love with the city of Kisumu. A low budget weekend getaway to Kisumu would recharge me for months. All it entailed was a night bus ticket on Easy Coach – a slow bus to Kisumu taking off from Nairobi at 9pm and arriving in Kisumu anytime between 4 and 5am. Breakfast at some early or all-night eatery (I will forever miss Kimwa Annex with their greasy fried eggs). A visit to the museum and snake park, a walk around town, lunch at the lakeside, a boat ride and sunset at Dunga Beach before making my way back to Easy Coach for a ticket back to Nairobi in the night bus departing Kisumu at 9pm. I’d be in Nairobi before anyone knew I’d left, recharged, energized and none the poorer.

Eventually my getting away included longer trips, in and outside Kenya, and numerous trips to climb mountains and hills all over Kenya and Tanzania. My most recent day away was earlier this year when I got away to experience the snail coach to Nanyuki – yes 8 hours on a train to a destination that otherwise takes 3 hours by road. A walk around a sleepy town and a matatu ride back to Nairobi. . .it was a day well spent, a new experience off the bucket list.

In ‘Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now’ Maya Angelou writes “Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, lovers, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence.” 

One day away. 

If our egos permit.

Some of us or all of us at certain times feel and act like we cannot afford to be away because our world is hanging on our shoulders and if we leave it will all collapse! (eye roll please) So we don’t dare leave unless we can carry everyone with us – forgetting that when our last day comes, no one will ask for our permission to cart us away.  In the blink of a moment, you will be gone and long before your remains are disposed of, the world will have kept moving on. Sad

Maya continues, “Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us. We need hours of aimless wandering or spates of time sitting on park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants and the canopy of treetops.”

The first time I took a boat ride on Lake Victoria, it was a motor boat and I crossed from one end to the other. It was 'hair-raisingly-exhilarating'. On my next trip, I dared to take a rowing boat, to Hippo point!! Yes, out on the lake, with just 2 oars, and going out to see a bunch of hippos frolicking out in the lake! It was how I discovered Dunga Beach, the one place with the best sunset views on that side of Kisumu. I have always carried my journal and camera every time I’ve been back to that beach and magic has found me every time.

On my first trip to Mount Kenya, I encountered a sky so rich in stars my heart burst. We don’t get a fraction of that view in Nairobi. The taste of water bottled at source, the crisp feel of the wind up there, the texture of snow, the night sounds that come through your tent, sunrise on the summit! All those are heart attacks that strengthened my worship muscle.

Every trip has added something to who I am. How I appreciate what I have, how I understand others, how I view the things I go through. Every time, I’ve left things happening and got back to either find them resolved or come back with new eyes to solve things differently than I’d have done before. On each trip, I have met people who gave me a new appreciation for humanity and our diversity, made friends and learnt something new.

Maya concludes, “If we step away for a time, we are not, as many think and some will accuse, being irresponsible, but rather we are preparing ourselves to more ably perform our duties and discharge our obligations. A day away acts as a spring tonic. It can dispel rancor, transform indecision, and renew the spirit.” I agree, and not just because it sounds like a good idea, but because I have experienced it over and over again. Try it.

“Taking a break can lead to breakthroughs.” ~ Russell Erick Dobda