The campground at Lake Louise is a few kms from the famous lake, but not far. To get to the lake, you drive past the payment booth at the campground to a crossroads. There, you turn left for a stunning drive into the mountains, the vintage Fairmont Lake Louise hotel, the aquamarine glacier lake and mountains rising to ice-capped peaks.

Today the crossroads was a moment of truth. I knew I couldn’t go to the lake. I had work to do, and I had to keep myself focused. Without the work, there is no travel; there are no lakes, mountains, gentile hotels or soaring spirits. So, this morning, I turned my head right instead of left at the crossroads. I pulled into the parking lot of the village mall to look for Wi-Fi and a place to camp out for the day where I wouldn’t think about the lake.

I found a wonderful, almost-hidden gem of a restaurant up the stairway to the left of the public washrooms, around corners, along hallways to the back of the building on the second floor. The Village Family Restaurant Bar and Grill is a down-to-earth, small-town, well-used place of business with nothing but booths looking out to the trees and minor mountains through table-to-ceiling windows. I arrive about 11:30 a.m. and stayed until 5:45 p.m.

Occasionally, the lake would enter my thoughts. I daydreamed about the hike I planned to take in the next couple of days. I would find a special spot to place a stone with my grandmother’s name on it in honor of this, her favorite place in the world. I would rub my own stone in the dirt and take it home with me as a remembrance. I imagined the warm sun peeking through pine branches and the gentle chill of forest shadows. There would be a slight breeze, I thought, and when the path neared the edge of the emerald lake (which was once its name before being named for English royal, Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria), I would hear the whispered rippling of small waves caressing the shore.

Wait a moment (I said to myself in the booth looking out at the pines). That is for another day. Today, I need to work.

So, I wrestled my attention back to the tasks at hand. Here are a few tricks I use to keep myself focused on the work at a time like this:

  • I checked in by phone, text, Skype (Google Hangouts would not work for some reason), and email with my assistant back in Nebraska. We made a deal to work on each task for a half hour, then check back in with a report of our progress.
  • I focused on the rod-straight pines and mountain horizon outside the windows of the restaurant (gorgeous by any measure other than the emerald lake).
  • I kept a list of things to do close at hand in the notes app on my phone, just a click and a slide away whenever I felt my attention slipping.
  • I allowed time for researching travel writing, a new venture that excites and inspires me. The power of that inspiration spilled over to the workaday jobs that had to get done today: invoicing, email answering, client research, proposals…oh, and writing.
  • I texted my tentative plan for the next few days to my mom, who is the usual receiver of my plans so someone knows where I am. Truth be known, she and my dad also give me a familiar home base to touch occasionally, to ground me and fight off any nagging feeling of isolation.

So, you see, it IS possible to ignore an emerald lake. If you find yourself in a similar position, remind yourself of your plan to see the lake later, allow yourself to daydream a bit, find a partner to stay accountable to, indulge yourself in the excitement of your goals and the satisfaction of getting each task done. Last, but not least, consciously enjoy the surroundings you are in at the moment. There is plenty of time for emerald lakes tomorrow.