Our family enjoys to go on yearly camping trips. The prep and return is always exhausting but the reward is a few days of technological silence. To explain, we camp way up in the Smokies where there is no cell signal. You may think a Technical Support Engineer like myself would have a love for technology, but on the contrary the longer I am in this field, the more I find myself liking it less and less and being drawn to a much more digitally quiet life.
When camping, for three days we hear no phones, no texts, no calls, no social media notifications, nothing but the sound of the water on the rocks in the river behind our tents, and sometimes a very loud owl waking us up in the middle of the night. The girls get to explore nature, catch butterflies, play in streams, and burn off pent up energy while we get relax by a fire, and spend time together, while chasing off the occasional bear.
I know this isn’t a long post, and I don’t even know what the purpose of it is, except maybe to encourage someone else to take some time to unplug as well. Or maybe I am just missing those quiet mornings being woken up by the sound of birds, instead of alarms.
In early 2019 I moved to the second shift because that was the only way I was able to get permission to work 100% remote.
Rain boots and puddles
Then a month later the quarantine started and they moved everyone to work remote (I’m not salty about it or anything). But it worked for us, I was able to spend more time with my two girls and was able to work and not have the 1hr commute eat up my time. Now the girls are older, Anastasia is 4 and Emily is soon to be 3 and life just gets busier and busier. They’re no longer the little babies I could put in the play pen in order to get a few moments to myself, instead its a flurry of arts and craft, toys, mess, and fun.
Now my days run in this never ending cycle: wake up, wake the girls, cook, clean, eat, teach the preschool lesson of the day, work on my own school work, work until 10PM sign off and then I get an hour or two that I actually get to enjoy some time with Josh before we have to go to sleep and then wake up and repeat it all again.
It had gotten to the point where despite the utter exhaustion I’d feel at the end of the day I would purposely stay up late doing whatever, knowing that I would be even more exhausted in the morning, just to have some hours to myself. Sure I got a few hours to myself, the girls were asleep, Josh was asleep, but then come the next day I was just not the same. I would be cranky, tired, and overall unpleasant and then I’d have to go through all the things that needed to get done all over again. I realized that what I was doing was doing more harm than good and have tried to change this bad habit. I try to sleep earlier and instead of taking those hours at night I’ve been working on waking up before my husband leaves for work, while the girls are still asleep, and using that time instead.
Girls joining me for a walk
I use this time to do things that are a benefit to me, reading my Bible and doing school work. I also go for a walk in the neighborhood and take some quiet me-time while getting some fresh air or even spending some time gardening. I am very new at, but it is very rewarding when successful.
But lets not forget, one of the best things about waking up before the girls are awake, is being able to take a seat in a quiet house and enjoy savoring a cup of coffee. I never understood why my mom would just “want some quiet” when I was younger or why I’d find a cup of forgotten coffee in the microwave, but I do now.
It doesn’t matter where you’re from – or how you feel… There’s always peace in a strong cup of coffee.
Little Piece of Quiet 