I hadn’t really thought about the quiet of my walks until Barbara left me a comment about the video I posted yesterday, A Walk in the Woods.
“Thank you for the silence on this lovely walk.” Barbara wrote, “I cherish being quiet and I miss my walks”.
The silence comes not from the woods, which is full of sound, but from me. And when Barbara wrote “I cherish being quiet” I realized that I do too. I rarely utter a word on my walks in the woods, but I never thought about how much not talking is a part of my walks.
There are times when my mind is as noisy as the spoken word, but if I walk long enough it always quiets. Then I’m left to just see what’s in front of me, without judgement or expectation.
This morning was unusually warm, with a bright sun and blue sky. I didn’t go far, just walked within the borders of our property, which is defined by stone walls on two sides and power lines on the third. I was sitting on a rock when a text came through from Jon. “I’m walking on McMillan Road”.
I had spent enough time alone, so Fate and I stepped over the stone wall into our neighbors old farm pasture which also borders McMillan Road. It was sweet to see Jon and Red walking up the road towards us. And a lovely way to end my time in the woods.
Through therapy, I learned that I am an HSP, a highly sensitive person, which is NOT a defect, but just the way that I am wired. Loud noises, loud music, too hot, too bright, too cold, too people-y – things like this tax my battery levels to the max, and make me want to run, or worse, lash out! I rarely ever turn the music on in the car, or at home, nor do I turn on the TV. My system cannot handle the endless onslaught of stimuli. So I must do what I need to do in order to be centered in a world that likes to make noise. It has taken some work to figure this out, so I can be out in life, rather than holed-up trying to merely survive. So, I carve out time for quiet, I get up 2 hours ahead of my husband, who cannot be quiet, to have my quiet time in the morning. I plan things with friends, but not daily, I carry headsets and earplugs with me. I stay on top of my need for solitude and quiet because I am a much more balanced person this way.
It’s wonderful to be able to know yourself so well to be able to do for yourself what you need. Also not to feel like you have to apologize for who you are. It must be hard to find that quiet in todays world. But you seem to have figured that out. Good for you Karla.