The Beauty of Meandering: What Happens When You Stop Rushing to the Next Thing
I didn’t realise how much I’d been rushing until I stopped.
I recently spent a long weekend in Porto with a friend. Life had been busy in the run-up, and neither of us had time to research the ‘must-sees’ or book the tours everyone talks about. We had no itinerary, no plan beyond good food, long walks, and longer conversations.
We meandered, following our noses through narrow cobbled streets, pausing for coffee and deliciously crispy and creamy pastel de nata whenever the moment felt right, just letting the day unfold.
It felt strange at first, almost rebellious, to have nowhere specific to be. But something beautiful happened as we strolled along.
The rhythm of everyday life
As a pair of busy working mums with our own businesses and school-aged kids, our day-to-day lives are pretty scheduled; they move to the beat of deadlines and reminders. We rush from one task to another, measuring our days by what gets ticked off the list. Even when we carve out time for rest, we often do it with purpose — a Pilates class here, a catch-up there, all neatly scheduled between commitments.
It’s easy to live at what I think of as ground level: the practical layer of life. The part that keeps everything moving along, all under control and tickety-boo, but rarely leaves room for noticing.
As we meandered through Porto’s beautiful streets, I realised how different it feels when we give ourselves permission to pause and soak it all in.
Looking up
One afternoon, as we wandered through the city centre, I noticed something.
The shopfronts at street level were all fairly ordinary, modern signs, busy windows, people moving quickly in and out.
But above them? Another world.
Balconies lined with azulejos, the famous blue and white tiles. Wrought-iron railings and crumbling plasterwork painted in sun-faded pinks and yellows. Tiny gardens bursting from terracotta pots. All this beauty, just one glance upward from the everyday noise.
It made me wonder how often I forget to look up.
Not just in the literal sense, but in life. How often I stay focused on the ground-level details: the calendar, the inbox, the practicalities.
How often do we notice the higher layers, the texture, the meaning, the small flashes of beauty that give everything perspective?
What emerges in space
When we meandered, with no destination and no time pressure, the best moments appeared effortlessly. A delicious charcuterie board in a hidden square, we’d never have spotted if we’d been rushing to the pre-booked tour.
A conversation that drifted from light to deep without us even noticing the shift.
A custodian of the Santa Clara monastery sharing the history of the building and the story of the nuns. The taxi driver sharing his perspective on the changing culture of Porto as more and more people flood to it and the changing politics sweeping Europe.
None of these things were on any list. They simply emerged because we’d made space for them to appear.
It reminded me of what happens in coaching.
Clarity rarely arrives when you force it.
It comes in the pauses, the reflective moments, the gentle curiosity, the willingness to explore without knowing exactly where it will lead.
The truth is, you can’t schedule insight. But you can create the conditions for it.
Everyday meandering
You don’t have to go to Portugal to find this kind of spaciousness.
It can start small, in the spaces you already have.
Maybe it’s:
🌿 Taking a different route to work just to see what’s there.
🌿 Letting a conversation unfold without an agenda.
🌿 Setting aside one morning, or an hour with no plans and no to-do list.
🌿 Sitting somewhere unfamiliar and simply noticing what you see.
Question
What’s a small way you could create a bit of space to let yourself meander?
A gentle invitation
If life has started to feel like one long list of ground-level tasks, maybe it’s time to look up.
Notice what’s above the shopfronts.
Give yourself permission to wander.
And trust that when you stop rushing, the next step often finds you.
You don’t need to overhaul your life or have it all figured out.
You just need a little space — to breathe, to notice, to meander.
If you’re craving a space like this, somewhere to pause, reflect, and see what might emerge, that’s exactly what my coaching offers are designed to create..
Take a look at my coaching services to explore what might fit, or book a free discovery call — a calm, no-pressure space to pause, reflect, and see what might be ready to shift.