The thing about any adventure (journey feels so overused right now) is that you need a good idea of where you started, and a rough idea of where you’re going. Otherwise you’re just lost. Capital L, Lost.
And I’ve spent some time there. Lost is something that can and should be dealt with promptly when it occurs.
But being lost just happens. There’s not really any intent there. A person can just end up lost, without saying much about them as a person, where they started, or where they’re going.
So more important than knowing if one is lost or not, I think it is a crucial navigation skill to determine when you are, and are not, in fact, on a detour.
Now detours may come in all shapes and sizes, and I suspect we are each guilty of overindulging our own specific flavor of detour. Some of mine are as innocuous as a box of Mike & Ikes, or Hot Tomales, because that processed sugar really does it for me.
And the thing is, some detours are necessary. You encounter some construction on the main road, or perhaps there is weather you’d like to avoid, so you choose a different route - and find yourself enjoying the views and taking in the scenes. Bonus as they were. Not really meant to happen. And I am quite certain that is where the most Life occurs…
When in Rome, or whatever.
Those aren’t the types of detours that we’re talking about here.
The type of detours that you need to be wary of are the ones that you want to go on, but know you shouldn’t. There’s a barely marked turn, that several other people have avoided, or maybe a sly little grin, and you find yourself saying things like “what’s the worst that can happen” or “well it’s just one day”…
Dot. Dot. Dot.
Or my own personal favorite - “well she might not be the one for me but how much harm could she really do?”
The answer is - a lot. She could do a lot of harm. It’s definitely not her fault, she didn’t really do anything wrong other than be her damn self.
But damnit these detours do start to wear on a guy.
And I’m not only talking about women. They are innocent in all of this, that’s for sure. Because there’s several other detours I am guilty of steering us toward.
Such as;
a bunch of drinks that I really did not need.
Or several joints that I didn’t need a puff off of.
And at this point, even though they’ve saved me from the worst parts of myself - some tabs of acid that weren’t entirely called for. Or shit, even a little molly that probably wasn’t entirely necessary.
From a healing perspective.
Might have been necessary from an overindulging perspective.
But not what I would describe as healthy….. Or certainly, not on the way to where we were originally going.
Which is here - to the point.
Proper identification of a detour, a traveller’s guide;
1. It’ll definitely feel good in the short term
2. It’ll probably be vaguely romantic or otherwise fantastical
3. The detour can readily be justified by any who try to use their better judgment to steer us back on course - by properly identifying that the detour, will in fact, be fun. (And oh, it very much will be)
4. The detour has facsimiles of where we were originally headed anyway
5. Whatever it was might have predicable consequences; hangover, morning fog, a break up, and those consequences when they happen - will make you question the whole detour to begin with.
And it is in this manner of navigation that I find myself.
Not so much lost.
Just… Stuck, in a never ending set of detours.
For a guy who is happy not ever ending up anywhere, I am starting to get worn down by the side quests stopping us from getting there.