The other morning, I texted a friend a picture from outside our hotel room.
“The view from our room.”
There were trees, water, a little table, and chairs, and for a few minutes, we sat there enjoying it before heading to breakfast.
It looked like we were on a little getaway.
We weren’t.
We were there for work.
My husband had two exams scheduled that morning, almost two hours from home. We’re used to driving about ten minutes to work, so getting up early enough to make a nearly two-hour drive before seeing patients didn’t sound particularly appealing.
Instead, we drove there the night before and stayed overnight.
Simple enough.
Except the entire experience has us asking a question we’re probably going to be asking a lot more:
Is this worth it?
The Things We Do to Earn a Living
Work changes.
Businesses change.
Opportunities change.
And sometimes earning a living takes you somewhere you didn’t expect to go—quite literally.
We already know there will be more of these trips. Some may involve only a couple of exams. Others may have more. The locations will change. The appointment times will change. The amount of driving will change.
Which means there probably isn’t going to be one answer for how we manage them.
Do we both go?
Does my husband go by himself?
Do we drive there and back on the same day?
Do we stay overnight?
If the exams finish later in the afternoon, do we immediately get into the car and join everyone else sitting in traffic?
Or do we stay for a while?
That last question is the one that has me thinking.
What If We Don’t Rush Home?
Depending on how many exams there are, when they’re scheduled and what time we’d be driving home, sometimes we might not leave right away.
Maybe we explore.
Maybe we find somewhere interesting to have lunch or dinner.
Maybe we walk around a town we’ve never visited.
Maybe we find something nearby we’ve always heard about but never had a reason to see.
Maybe we simply sit somewhere for a while, let the traffic clear, and then drive home.
And some days, we’ll do absolutely none of those things.
We’ll finish the exams, get into the car, and say, “Let’s go home.”
Because that’s what makes sense that day.
I don’t want to create another rule for us that says every work trip now has to become an adventure. That sounds suspiciously like turning something fun into another obligation.
Did we make enough memories today?
No, thank you.
Other days, though, I wonder if we’ll catch ourselves rushing home simply because that’s what we’ve always done.
Where Is Work Taking Us?
That’s the question I want to start asking instead.
Not just:
How far away is this?
How many exams are there?
How much is the hotel?
What time can we get home?
Those things matter. This is still a business. There are practical decisions to make about time, expenses and whether something financially makes sense.
But there’s another calculation happening, too.
We’re spending part of our lives doing this.
So, where is work taking us?
Maybe it’s taking us two hours away to do two exams and come straight home.
Or maybe it’s taking us somewhere we’ve never been before, and we happen to have a few hours available before we need to head back.
We won’t know until we’re there.
That morning, we didn’t sightsee. We didn’t extend our stay. We didn’t turn the trip into a mini vacation.
We sat outside our room for a little while and enjoyed a beautiful view.
Then we had breakfast.
Then my husband went to work.
Then we came home.
And you know what?
That counted.
Making these trips meaningful doesn’t have to mean doing something big. It might simply mean noticing where we are while we’re there.
We spend so much of our lives trying to get to the next place — the appointment, the destination, home — that sometimes we forget we’re already somewhere.
So as these work trips continue, I think we’ll keep asking:
Is this worth it?
But I’m adding another question.
If we’re already here, what else is here?
Sometimes the answer may be nothing.
Sometimes the answer may be to get home.
And every once in a while, it might be something we never would have experienced if work hadn’t taken us there in the first place.
Reflection Questions:
- Where has work taken you that you never expected to go?
- Have you ever turned a work obligation into a mini adventure?
- What makes a work trip feel “worth it” to you?
- When was the last time you allowed yourself to explore somewhere simply because you were already there?
Theresa
Flexible Being
Empowering Your Journey to Healing, Clarity, and Self-Discovery.
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Theresa Martinez-Shapiro
Theresa Martinez-Shapiro is the founder of Flexible Being, a Reiki Master, Certified Oracle Guide, intuitive mentor, and writer based in Stockton, California. Through Musings of a Flexible Being, she explores healing, mindfulness, relationships, intuition, and personal growth with a grounded yet spiritual approach.
