In Praise of Silence
Never miss the chance to do nothing. Even better: never miss the chance to do nothing, by yourself, in silence. Silence as in taking a break from reality, going someplace that is pure and real, like nature.
Route for the 4-day trip to Vancouver Island
Our problem with ‘happiness’ is that we are just too busy to be happy. The French philosopher and pioneer in existentialism Blaise Pascal expressed this in a nice way:
‘I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.'
I’ve noticed that often I first need a break from reality, just to be able to achieve exponentially more after I return to my daily life. No breaks and the quality of my work goes down.
I’m more afraid of doing the wrong things than of not doing anything. There is so much waste in this world, why add to that your own time and energy? When I am out there, alone, in the hands of nature, I forget about everything I need to do. I get a feeling of everything just being fine. At that moment, when I’m looking at the massive mountain rising up from the lake, I know that my worries are insignificant in the bigger picture of life. Somehow they just dissipate in the process of awe for something real. What I realized after is that I have more clarity to take the right steps.
When you are sitting alone at a lake, in the middle of nowhere, vulnerable to the elements around you, you can’t help but think about what truly makes you human. It reminds you of the safety nets that you have been given living in the western world, and the ones you built around yourself just to feel that extra comfort. Dropping those safety nets reminds you what alive really feels like—without the material stuff, insurances, contracts, bank accounts and other modern luxuries you have afforded in the hope of becomeing a respected citizen.
