It was my wife's birthday last weekend and it was a big one.
To celebrate, she and a small group of friends planned a local bike tour.
To call it a local bike tour is really doing it a disservice.
It was more like a day full of slow meandering around town on bikes with close friends, with stops in unexpected places, while experiencing a sense of joy with each stop—her theme was unexpected delight and that's exactly what it was.
A funny thing happened the day after the bike tour.
I had a desperate desire to make it an annual thing.
It was just so good and my wife had so much fun planning it, so I thought, why not repeat it?
I've noticed this pattern in myself before, and I wonder if you have too.
When I have a good thing—this could range from a single meal to a day-long bike adventure—I find myself wanting that good thing, again. And again.
This led me down an interesting path, one I've visited many times before: The quality and quantity discussion.
When you do something more than once, it instantly enters into the space of quantity.
In the quantity space, all kinds of things can happen. The worst of which is comparison.
No matter how many times you repeat something, it very likely won't be the same every time.
What if we considered just doing something once?
Sometimes doing things once is the only option, but I'm talking about the times where doing a thing more than once is an option, and intentionally choosing against that option.
In doing something once, you can hold on to the quality of that singular experience.
That quality that's leftover after the experience may just be a feeling.
You may find that feeling again in other things, and also, it will never quite be the same.
Perhaps that's ok?
I'll leave you with a visible version of what I'm trying to point to.
Freya Ridings' voice is one of my absolute favourites. I think I've listened to just the audio from this video at least 50 times, if not more.
Just pay attention to the girl that's sitting on the floor behind Freya.
No phone. Just a backpack, legs crossed, soaking in a singular experience.