The importance of solitude and silence

People who know me in person know that I'm generally a warm, welcoming and friendly woman.  I do my best to make people feel comfortable and create genuine connections among friends.

But I am also someone who can EASILY fall into the trap of filling up 16 hours a day chock full of activities.  I've never not had at least 2 jobs, if not more, and there's usually something else working in the back of my mind as well.

Case in point: I spent the last 4 years working full-time, working part-time, growing and birthing 2 sweet babies AND completing a masters degree in public health in the evenings and weekends.  It was hard but at no point was it completely impossible.

Now that the childbearing and breastfeeding phase is behind me, and my masters degree is done and dusted, I am trying to do something meaningful with all this "new found time."

Spoiler alert, it doesn't FEEL like I have all this extra time.

I've gone back to sleeping 8 hours a night, so that's a good thing. (Late nights writing papers is NOT a good thing.)

And I no longer have to sacrifice Sundays at the library every so often, so that's also a good thing.

But for me, and maybe for you, life expands into the extra cracks. 

So I've been consciously spending time alone and in silence as much as possible. 

Our days are a barrage of noise, advertisements, alerts, pings, emails and instant messages.  Most of which is hard to avoid.

Spending 5 or 10 minutes in silence can feel like a vacation.  It doesn't have to be prayer or meditation, but it can be.

Solitude (away from the noise, preferably in nature or a quiet place) allows you to listen to your own self.  It can be remarkably healing.

Try to find a little time every day for solitude and silence and see how it feels to you

xo
Chase

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