Sometimes it takes a thousand miles to make you realize how important a moment in time can be

Sometimes you get so bogged down in day-after-day work, bills, family worries, national politics, world tragedies … and you forget to pause. And look up. And breathe.

Maybe it's time to walk away, and I mean literally walk, just for a time so you can readjust, reassess, center your thoughts and, again, breathe.

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Which brings me to my recent vacation. My husband, Ed, and I decided to take our son and travel northwest to the Tetons and Yellowstone. It would be a long drive from Oklahoma, but neither Ed nor our son had been to that part of the country, and I hadn't traveled there since I was 11.

Reaching our destination would mean miles and miles of driving through areas that are actually pretty flat or similar landscapes for hours, but the goal was set and we packed and readied ourselves for a lengthy journey.

That's when it happened. Somewhere into our travels, I started to see the clouds and the blue sky and breathe. I wasn't leaving everything behind, but I was adding a break in my routine that was calming, life refreshing.

Once we did finally reach the mountains, the exhilaration of the rugged, towering terrain still capped with snow and the varied wildlife of enormous bison, wandering grizzly bears, elk, deer, moose, antelope and more punctuated that we had made the right choice.

Of course, we had to take photographs, so "snap! snap! snap!" we did. And then I had another epiphany. I didn't want to be so concentrated on taking photos that I actually missed what I was seeing.

So, I photographed the majestic mountains in the Grand Tetons and took more photos of the animals and their babies, along with the magical steam pools and geysers in Yellowstone. And then I paused. I stood peering across the azure waters at the massive peaks that rose up beyond, and I took a long, deep breath, taking in the fresh, cool air, the scent of pine needles and other earthy smells around me.

I made a point to just be. I stood there and became a small part of the world, breathing along with the rest of my surroundings, which were usually very tall trees, massive boulders and various plants and moss and rotting wood and bugs and dirt … Earth.

So, it's not every day I'm going to travel a thousand miles to take a breath, but the journey made me realize that I need to take time for small treks and walks and just moments where I pause and breathe.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Traveling to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons this summer inspires, refreshes