Been going through it lately. Find myself venturing a couple blocks to a nearby beach, and driving past the 4wd only sign to find some solitude.
I go out there, set a timer for a hour, put my ear plugs in (earplugs are custom made for extended periods of power tool work in enclosed spaces), and stare at the shore.
I’m not figuring my life out, or trying to achieve zen. just shut down for an hour. I quit thinking, quit everything but looking, and listen to my breathing. I watch the birds come and go, searching the shore for minnows and mollusks and all in silence. Eventually my watch vibrating is enough to bring me back to it, and I go home.
My life is so loud, and busy, and constantly changing. Sometimes I think I just need a lack of noise for a while.
Anyone else?
I purposefully live in a place that is largely isolated from everyone else. I’ve done the city thing, and i work with nonstop smells, noise, and activity. It rattles my head, and by the time my run ends, i’m basically ready to quit society. I’m much more comfortable with sitting on the moss by a babbling brook, just hearing the goings on around me. I guess that’s why any time off that i have, i go hiking with my wife. Just the two of us, wandering down paths ancient and isolated, occasionally saying hi to a passing fellow traveler.
I came from a small place where the cows outnumber the people. I live in a moderate size city in a coastal area now, the beach is fifteen min away. There’s no hiking there to speak of but I just go and sit as often as I can. Most times it’s a hour, but sometimes less. Kids, work, family, etc.
The beach (people probably picture Key West, or Cali, but the GoM along Texas is anything but) affords me a place to decompress. Sometimes I throw a couple sheets and a pillow in the back of the truck and just find a spot and lay in the back of the truck at look up.