A couple issues ago in Salt magazine, I wrote about how important down time is. I put my money where my mouth was while I was on vacation.
One of the best trips I’ve had in years, Gary and I traveled to Myrtle Beach with his daughter, her husband and the two granddaughters in June.
Instead of filling the time shopping endlessly, or making sure I took in all the sights and sounds the beach had to offer, I took in one sight and one sound, and they were both the same — the ocean.
I spend so much of my life being hurried — check emails, assign stories, make more coffee; the only hurrying I managed on vacation was to immediately find my flip flops so I could go sit on the balcony as soon as I got up in the morning.
In a protest to the fast-paced lifestyle gods, I threw caution to the wind, literally, as we kept our bedroom balcony door open — wide open — while we slept every night. There was no screen to keep out the bugs, and no adjusting the volume of the waves.
As a person who loathes the sight of bugs (though finding one crawling on your arm is certainly worse), I was so unconcerned with whether any would find their way into our room at night. The pleasure of the rolling ocean and its accompanying wind superseded any of my fears. (I only killed one the whole week.)
Most of the day was spent sitting, either on the balcony, down at the beach, or back on the balcony again in the evening and at night. Conversation with people I love replaced mindless staring at my computer and iPhone.
I watched TV for less than three hours during the entire vacation, choosing to stare endlessly out into the beautiful ocean.
The great news about being such a busy person is that I have come to appreciate all the other end of the spectrum has to offer. There’s plenty on the other side if we choose to look for it.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This content will be published in the next issue of Salt magazine, hitting home delivery subscribers for some of our southern Ohio newspapers July 16. Just couldn't wait to share.
