Unplugged

Self-Wellness

Fascinating. If you look up the synonyms and antonyms to this word, you will find a huge list of additional descriptive words.

Synonyms include expansive, unburdened, and cleared.

Antonyms include blocked, hindered, and limited.

We have just returned from a vacation in the Olympic National Park in the state of Washington. It’s just a 3-4 hour drive from my home but never been to this part of Washington. It was absolutely stunning landscape. We saw alpine flowers, deer, waterfalls, rainforests, stunning lakes, and ocean beaches and stayed in an almost 100-year-old lodge on a lake with no cell phone service.

Deciding Before, and Worrying

I’d decided before the vacation that I would completely unplug while we were away, but I also worried. I am a solopreneur, what if someone tries to reach me and I am unavailable for the entire week and don’t reply? I fretted, a little, but I realized my own self-care was more important. If I lost work because I didn’t reply to something, they weren’t a great client for me. I left an auto-reply message and away we went.

Coming home after a week in nature, completely unplugged from social media, news, politics just everything that happens in our world these days felt nourishing on every level including my physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Like I had refilled my tank, I had gotten so quiet I could hear absolutely every bird call and the wind rustling through the trees every morning.

Practice Listening

I work to practice listening every day, but it was even heightened in nature.

It’s made me ask, how can I do this even more in my daily life when I am not on a true vacation? So yesterday I laid down on my front lawn under a huge sweet gum tree in our yard, shoes off, and enjoyed watching the clouds go by. It was close to 95 degrees outside, so there was very little noise. We don’t always have to “go away” to feed our souls. Finding ways to do it even in our home environments is just as important.

I’d like to continue to feel the unburdened, cleared and expansive benefits of being unplugged.

Has anyone else made space for this same kind of nourishing time this summer? Join the conversation with me on Linked In.