I decided to get out of town for a few days. I needed a break. The nonstop onslaught of political news was dying down. We have leadership that is committed to dealing with the crisis we are all experiencing. I was weary from staying at home for so long. I needed a change of environs. So I booked an Airbnb and decided to have a small retreat just for myself.
I haven’t read the news in 3 days now. I sometimes find myself opening the CNN or local news website, but I catch myself and shut it down. I have spent my hours thinking, writing, and just being. My stress level has dropped considerably.
I went for a run yesterday in the mountains. It was a tough slog, 6 miles total with around 2000 feet of elevation gain in the first 3 miles. I’ll be honest I didn’t actually run the whole thing uphill. Some of it was so steep I slowed to a fast walk. At the top of the trail, I ate a bit, had some water, and stood there staring at the view below. Then I prepped myself mentally for the downhill as I worked my way back to the trailhead. When I say that I am meaning I was thinking how difficult it may be, that’s a lot of downhill, which can wreak havoc on the legs, not to mention the fear of falling.
As I was running downhill, I became aware of just how much it was like a controlled fall. I began wondering about the sheer amount of perceptual information processing was taking place to keep me from actually falling. The trail was covered in dirt, gravel, rocks, and roots. Sunlight was intermittent as its rays peeked out between trees and foliage. I was moving at a rapid clip. With each footfall, I could potentially step wrong, and that would be it. Down I would go. But yet somehow, I maintained my footing. My mind, in concert with my eyes and ears, somehow kept me moving forward safely. How is this possible? I certainly wasn’t making a conscious effort to do any of this.
The constant change of the trail, coupled with the shifting sight and sound, was somehow processed in such a way that I was safe and successful. This all happened on a level that I wasn’t aware of. Our sensory system collects all the information about what is around us and directs the system as a whole to keep it safe and injury-free. If I were to do otherwise, like intentionally looking off to my left or right or closing my eyes and not looking forward, I would most likely stumble and fall.
I began wondering how this experience was related to life in general. We spend so much time distracted in one way or another, and we live in a world of Facebook, Twitter, news, and text messages. All pulling our attention in one direction or another. Potentially causing us to focus on something other than what is right in front of us. We become flooded with information that may or may not be pertinent to where we actually are or are going. Sitting at my desk right now in the rented Airbnb, I am looking at the screen while I write this, occasionally glancing out the window at the beautiful sight of the waterfront as the snow falls lightly on the deck. I focus on what is in front of me, no news sites, no Twitter, my phone is across the room charging. Did anyone message me in the last 30 minutes, what is happening at home, what are the current COVID numbers, are protests going on anywhere? None of that really matters to what I am doing right now and sitting here writing.
The internal systems that are tuned to keep me safe would take that additional information from these sources and try to apply it to what I am now doing. Which most likely would not be applicable or beneficial to me as my anxiety level would likely increase.
So what does all this mean?
For me, it is a reminder to stay in the present, slow down, and be in the “now.”