I just finished reading a book called Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy. It was about family heartache, loss, disfunction, passion and love in all it’s undefinable forms.
The story centres on a certain bird. McConaghy writes through character Franny Stone, “The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any animal. It flies from the Arctic all the way to the Antarctic, and then back again within a year. This is an extraordinarily long flight for a bird its size. And because the terns live to be thirty or so, the distance they will travel over the course of their lives is the equivalent of flying to the moon and back three times.”
That really got me. I’ve never been focused on the beauty of animals in that way until I read that line. Imagine the wind and the waves and the distance. But something in the brain says this is a journey I must take, and I will make it.
Inspiring. It reminded me of the journey we are all on in life. We migrate time and time again as the seasons change and our habitat changes and our needs change and our dreams change. We travel and although we are not alone, the journey is ours alone to take.
Unlike birds, we don’t always have the wiring directing us to stay on a given path. But we can listen to our intuition and our gut to know the way.
McConaghy also writes, “Mam used to tell me to look for the clues. ‘The clues to what?’ I asked the first time. ‘To life. They’re hidden everywhere.'”
Look for the clues. They will help us on our voyage. Sometimes it may feel like we are travelling to the moon and back. But in the end, the journey is the destination. And if we get out of our own way, we will soar.