Life in the slow lane
- May 5
- 3 min read
Updated: May 7
How slowing down in a fast-paced world taught me how to enjoy the journey.
Written by Nicole Wloszek-Therens
As I walked into a Thanksgiving gathering in the mountains of a California farming town, I noticed a group of people clustered around a fire. They were singing and laughing like there was nowhere better to be than right here, right now.
I tapped on an eccentric-looking woman’s shoulder and asked her if I could join.
“Of course you can,” she said in a thick French accent. “You are here, you are alive!”
That night, she told me how she had left her hometown in France nine years ago and hadn’t been back since. I asked her if she missed it, but she brushed my question off as if it was absurd, replying, “Why would I? There’s so much to see.”
I looked around as the glow of the fire flickered across a circle of faces I might never see again. After all, I was just passing through and so were they.
In a world of planes, trains and automobiles, eight-hour transcontinental flights and TSA lines full of people rushing from one place to the next, I had one mission when I set out to see the great 48 in my Chevy van: slow down and enjoy the journey.
My van became more than just a mode of transportation. It became my magic school bus, taking me anywhere four wheels could roam, with no specific destination in mind. I watched out the windshield as the landscape changed from vast canyons to towering mountains to the peaceful ocean side.
When I arrived at Olympic National Park in Washington, I sat on the edge of my van with the door open and my legs swinging over Mother Nature’s floor. I stared out into the old growth forest that surrounded me, endless and wearing a heavy coat of fog.
Dew dropped from the trees above and landed softly on my legs, pulling me back to my reality that seemed so much like a dream. I can still remember how the moment felt. My world had slowed down so much that, for a moment, it felt like it had stopped moving completely.
Suddenly, I realized I hadn’t even thought of “America’s Next Top Model,” the show I had been binge-watching before I set out on my expedition and was so worried I would miss. I couldn’t remember why my downstairs neighbor and I got on each other's nerves so much. I didn’t once think about the sweater my friend had “borrowed” and never returned.
I didn’t even miss cooking in my kitchen. Now, the best meal I had, I ate out of a tin can, with a view of rusty peaks and valleys that seemed to span all the way back home.
Everything that seemed to matter so much before had drifted out of my mind. I was enjoying this human experience in such a pure way, untainted by the distractions, possessions and interactions that now seemed to complicate the life I lived before this experience.
Life in the slow lane isn’t for everyone, but if you take your comfort zone on wheels, you might learn more about the world and more about yourself. There’s so much to see.
Images of Nicole's travels.
Hover over the images to see captions and credits.
