The Power of a Small Detour

The structure of schedules is often helpful to keeping us on track for all the doing we need to do.

But it’s equally important to have times for being.

Being isn’t just about traditional “rest” like sitting by the pool on a summer afternoon — although that has its place, too.

It’s about getting off the hamster wheel to actively engage with the people and around us — and with life itself.

Relax the Structure

To stay connected with ourselves as human beings, we need moments when we relax the structure. When we allow ourselves to be unscheduled and unplanned.

Even small acts of wandering can be highly transformative.

If you live in a city and travel by foot or public transportation, this is easier to do. It’s built into the infrastructure.

You can

• Turn down a different block on your walk home.
• Get off the subway at a different stop than usual.
• Step into a new store to look around.
• Walk through a local farmers market and stop to talk to a vendor.
• Walk through a park and stop for a few minutes to absorb nature.

In the suburbs, where travel by car dominates, this type of detouring is a heavier cognitive lift.

You must give yourself permission to intentionally drive the opposite way from your destination.

You must choose to stop, park the car, get out of the car, and walk through a market or sit in a park for 10 minutes just to listen to the sounds.

Not to make the market or park a destination, but to let it become part of the journey — even if you have to go out of your way to get there.

An Act of Liberation

To be sure, this isn’t an easy permission slip to grant.

We are enculturated to be efficient and effective. This type of intentional detouring feels like the opposite of those values.

It feels like a waste of time.

But the truth is that it actually gives us time. Even more: it gives us life.

A small detour can be an act of liberation that reconnects us to our senses, our creativity, and our presence.

Even 10 minutes of unplanned activity — wandering into a store just to browse, speaking with an acquaintance without rushing to get to your next appointment, stopping at a park — can make life feel a little less urgent and a little more spacious.

It opens us up to the miracles of life that are right in front of us — the things we often see in passing but rarely stop to notice.

It reminds us of our interconnectivity and our essential dignity as human beings, not just human doings.