Be Intentional

I recently spent a night sleeping on the cold floor of an airport terminal. I turned off the music and stared at the ceiling for a while until my body became exhausted and naturally fell asleep.

Just two hours earlier, I was in a room with some of the smartest people in the world. Now I was alone in an airport in the middle of nowhere. My throat was starting to hurt, and there was nothing left to distract me: no meetings to prepare for, no one to impress, just time and the dull hum of people passing by with places to be.

That night made me realize something.

Airports are built for motion, and so is the world. Everything is designed to move you along quickly - to the next gate, the next task, the next outcome. So much of life gets filled without ever being chosen. Days stack on top of each other. Commitments accumulate quietly. It becomes easy to keep moving simply because stopping feels like falling behind, and after a while, momentum starts to feel like direction even when it isn't.

Sometimes the most intentional thing you can do is pause and let the noise settle long enough to hear what's underneath. Life will keep offering more: more paths, more noise, more reasons to rush. Being intentional isn't about doing more or saying yes to everything that comes your way. It's about choosing what deserves your energy and what doesn't. It's about remembering that not all movement is progress, and not all stillness is stagnation.

It's about making deliberate choices to reflect what's important to you.

That night on the airport floor, I didn't feel like this kind of moment that would matter later. But lying there, uncomfortable and too aware of everything, I understood something I'd been missing while moving too fast to notice: the difference between being busy and being present.

I don't know if I'll always get it right. I'll probably keep moving too fast sometimes, keep saying yes when I should pause, keep mistaking motion for meaning. I hope I know when to stop. To choose stillness not because I've earned it or because everything is figured out, but because intention requires it.