The Meaning: The Path
Solitude.
If I had to choose a feeling to be considered ambivalent, that would be it. It’s safe to say that we all love to feel happy, and we all cringe at the idea of feeling sad. But solitude is neither here nor there. You can be alone and be fulfilled by it, or you can be lonely and feel crushed inside.
Solitude is powerful because it comes and goes, and each time feels different. On the day I took this picture, for example, I was alone and lonely. It was a beautiful, very foggy autumn morning. I had woken up around 5 am feeling unfulfilled, like something was missing, so I decided to act on it.
I had heard about the Sandwich Boardwalk before, but had never visited it. To me, it was one of those places you drop in your bucket of “less important places to visit when I have time,” but since I was already down the Cape and just a few minutes away, that moment had arrived.
“The camera gave you a license to go out alone into the world with a purpose.”
If asked, I couldn’t point to exactly what was wrong or what was missing. There was something that just wasn’t there. It wasn’t right. Not sure if you ever felt like that before, but it’s very hard to deal with a feeling that lives in the unknown.
I started walking down the boardwalk, and the fog had really taken over. I couldn’t see anything in front of me, and yet, below my feet, the path still existed. It wasn’t the certainty of knowing what’s ahead, but the comfort of the walk that intrigued me.
Since it was very early in the morning, not too many people were around. In fact, besides me, there was only a lonely couple probably looking for some alone time. I stopped to let them open some distance. I wanted the three of us to experience the loneliness this fog brought in the most honest and honorable way. It was subduing.
It wasn’t until a brisk and cold breeze blew through the fog that I was able to see my surroundings again. And that couple in the distance.
I had to immediately take this shot. Not because you miss one hundred per cent of the shots you don’t take, but because on that second when the fog cleared up, I was lonely no more. I was reminded that, even when things aren’t clear or visible, they are still there. That we can’t always manage our feelings, but we still need to walk our walk. I learned that I had to cease trying to fill what’s missing, and just allow myself to be.
To believe in the path instead of the destination.
No wonder why this is one of my favorites.