I haven’t written much about geocaching lately, not because it hasn’t been on my mind, but because some reading topics really took over. But a recent radio interview reminded me that it’s spring, it’s time to get out there and start geocaching again!

I spend a fair amount of time on the beginner’s forums over at geocaching.com, because a lot of the most expert cachers are busy discussing more advanced topics, and I think it’s important to help folks just starting out — that’s the point of my book, Open Your Heart with Geocaching, after all! And what’s been interesting to me, lately, is seeing how much people are in a hurry.

What do I mean? One new cacher wants to place his first cache and wants to know what to put in it … though he would have known that if he’d found any number of caches; the guidelines tell you to find a lot before you place any. Another poster also wanted to place a cache, but didn’t know where she should do it. Placing a cache should be a thoughtful activity, one that’s inspired by a certain place or idea … not by responses on a forum.

But what all this really says to me is how much we’re, all of us, in a hurry most of the time. We want to grow up quickly, buy that cool new item now, have a promotion before we really understand our current work. We live in a disposable society where everything from batteries to spouses are seen as replaceable, and where instant gratification is the norm. But … does it make us happy? Divorce rates, bankruptcy rates, runaway rates, crime rates all paint a different picture.

What if we stopped seeing life as a race? What if we decided to do some of the things I talk about in my book –slow down. Look up. Find your joy. What if we lived those things, instead of being in such a hurry?

I have a sense of what my life would look like if I took my own words to heart. What would yours?

–Jeannette Cézanne
Open Your Heart with Geocaching
www.JeannetteCezanne.com