Not as burden

Hi Reader,

When I go backpacking, I carry 35 or 40 pounds on my back. It’s heavy, but it’s not a problem. It’s what I need to enjoy myself when I get to the end of trail and set up camp for the weekend.

I’m looking forward to when Imogen gets old enough to go backpacking with me. Of course I don’t know what she’ll think, but I like to imagine (if for no other reason than for the sake of the metaphor I’m making in this email) that she will view her little five pound pack as a nuisance, because she won’t understand the reason she’s carrying it.

When I carry something for a reason, it doesn’t occur to me as burden. It’s just what I need to do. When I carry something without seeing or understanding why I’m carrying it, that’s burden. The difference between the two things has nothing to do with what I carry or how heavy it is. The difference is entirely within me.

The more “grown up” I am, the better my ability to see the things I carry through life not as burden, but as responsibility. Or commitment. Even as fun.

I’m not there yet, but I think I see a path to a “grown up” place of total acceptance, where everything in my life occurs to me in this way.

Not as burden. But as joy.

I’m on the path. That, too, could be burden or joy.

What do you see around this in your life?