I had the luxury of taking January off to travel, write and visit family in South America with my daughter. The experience was amazing and made me aware of the fact that we are in charge of our own destiny every single day and that the adventures we don’t grasp in the moment may not come back in the future.
The contrast couldn’t have been bigger – between up to last minute trip preparations, delegating and wrapping up my business activities – and the peacefulness that greeted us once we arrived in the hills of the coastal mountain range of central Chile.
The lack of everyday noises that I had gotten accustomed to was surprising and the quietness had a depth to it that touched and relaxed me down to my bones and deep into the core of my body. I hadn’t been immersed in nature like that in a while and the healing quality of it was immediate. I took a deep breath, relaxed and felt the pure joy of being me.
Traveling and living off the beaten path was inconspicuous and calm. There was no TV, no internet to constantly distract us, we took long naps, sat by the fire at night, read, wrote, swam, hiked and relaxed into a routine that was filled with simple pleasures.
Not being able to use the World Wide Web was unusual at first, with thoughts of people not being able to reach me crossing my mind. However, that fell away soon, too. We did have telephone after all. The biggest revelation here was the fact that after one month of no emails, no Facebook or other social media sites we had missed absolutely nothing.
What did I take away? The experience of disconnecting from my every-day routines was deeply grounding and made me aware of the superficial quality of a life constantly distracted; always busy and often disconnected from what’s truly important.
Coming home, I decided to simplify my life, get off the many newsletters and mailing lists that clutter my inbox with emails every day, to be more mindful of how I use the internet, what I read and who I connect with, keep the distractions to a minimum and spend more time with the people and the activities I love.
How about you? How has 2013 been treating you and what’s new in your life? I’d love to find out.
As always, thank you for reading.
Karin
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