Friday, September 10, 2010

What does it mean to be “lost”?

When I left home I was telling people that one of the reasons I was leaving was because I couldn’t get lost out there anymore. After living in the area for over 25 years I almost always knew where I was. Out here in Southern Ontario there are so many more roads and ways to get places and without the mountains, I definitely get turned around a lot more. Still, if I lose track of where I am, I just whip out my phone and activate the GPS. I’ve driven around quite a bit but so far I haven’t been really “lost”. I’ve been unable to find my destination and had to call for better directions twice and I’ve had to “recalculate” my route a few times but I feel like I’ve always known where I am in relation to where I’m going...even if I don’t really know how to get there.

So, lost or not, I’m having fun exploring. So far I’ve located all the important places like the bank, gas station, Walmart and Starbucks. I know where the library is but they have pay parking and I refuse to pay so I haven’t been there yet. If it’s nice out maybe I’ll ride the bike today. If not, I’ll walk over from the school some day when I take the bus.

I stopped at the visitor information centre here in town the other day and got a stack of brochures about my new town. It’s the same size as my old town but it’s way older and has soooooo many more cool shops and restaurants. I can’t wait to discover more of them :)

Oh, and the other thing about being “lost” is that I’m just treating it as an adventure. I think it’s more stressful if you’re lost when you need to get somewhere by a certain time. So far I’ve had very few deadlines so if I take a wrong turn, I just enjoy the new scenery. It’s a great way to live!

1 comment:

Shelljo said...

Sounds like you're having a great time! Isn't it funny how dependent you get on using the Mountains as a landmark/directional indicator!