After a trip out to the cabins, I was thinking about what tranquil was. What did it really mean to me? Or was it just a name?
Time
Time came to mind first.
You see, our family was in a bunk cabin, and after dark the kids went to bed pretty quickly. Us parents though, we’re night owls. But we’re in a cabin. No wifi (at the time!) Kids four feet away. The options were limited.
So we talked. For hours. We shared embarrassing stories about ourselves. Shared things we’d never told anyone before.
We learned new things about each other.
That’s pretty cool after being together since high school.
But we can talk any time. Right? As I write this she’s 20 feet away, so what made this time different?
Space
Life gets crowded. There are a half dozen things on my desk right now vying for my attention. I fill up my day with all the things I have to do.
And it feels like we’re supposed to do that, right?
We’re supposed to be productive.
We’re supposed to accomplish things.
And even if we do somehow manage to cut back all of the superfluous stuff, there’s plenty of important things you want to do.
Tranquil means cutting away everything. It means giving yourself the space to exist with yourself. Some pretty neat things can happen, but you have to intentionally make the space for them.
But maybe there’s more to tranquil than time and space.
Less is More?
My usual motto is “more is more”. My favorite superhero is Tony Stark. I have a wide variety of interests and tastes, and no one who knows me would ever accuse me of “minimalism”.
I found out a friend of mine, also a techie, had gotten a flip phone. I was surprised. This was a guy who was all about the capability of his many gadgets, and here he was rocking a flip phone. Why? He said that he’s less tempted to waste time on his flip phone, and its more useful as a phone.
Any rational person would say he gave up capability. But somehow he gained a better experience in his life.
And in that same way, you can retreat to a cabin in the woods, cut away the internet and the distractions, and find one of those magical moments you’ll remember forever.
by Nathan Bowyer
