Well folks, right now my life is a bit on the stressful side. I have stress about work, stress about my apartment, and stress about other things going on. It’s kind of wild. But overall, I have found some good ways to unplug and relax.
Walking and taking the bus relax me a lot. In the car, I turn from a nice, bubbly person to an angry, f-bomb dropping driver. It’s awful. On the bus, I do not care about the other cars on the road. I can sit and think, listen to music, and just decompress from the day. I can think and pray or I can talk to the people I see regularly (one of the volunteers at my work takes my bus pretty regularly, so we always have to chat!).
When I’m walking, sometimes I listen to music and just let my thoughts roll by. Other times I unplug the iPod and pay attention to the world around me. I remember one recent day I was attracted by smells. Summer has a lot of smells. The smell of a distant barbecue. The smell of fresh cut grass. The smell of water. The smell of mud. The smell of heat. The smell of summer plants and flowers. There are just a lot of smells when I walk. Some smells aren’t so awesome, like the smell of asphalt, the smell of exhaust, or the smell of sewers. But most smells in my neighborhood are quite pleasant.
Walking also gives me a chance to see the neighborhood. Here’s this person and their dog, another person with their dog. There’s that huge tabby cat. There’s the siamese cat that I want to hug. Here’s the cat that tries to follow me into the apartment. Here are the neighbors who play music on the porch. Here’s my fourth grade teacher, who walks the same path every morning before the big Catholic church bells ring and she goes off to service. There’s a bird hunting for a yummy worm after a rain. There’s a bird strutting on tree branches, singing a song. There are two squirrels running about. Here’s a bunny I scared out of the bushes. There is so much happening in a neighborhood. It’s like neighborhood ecology.
Walking also makes me feel safe. I live down the street from some shadier apartments and a liquor store. But seeing the people who live around, looking them in the eye, makes me feel safe. Like we’re all part of this neighborhood ecology. I’m sure the old man walking home with the grocery bag hates riffraff and rowdy kids as much as me. We’re all in this together, wanting a peaceful neighborhood. It makes me feel like part of something bigger.
Reading also lets me unplug. I read a lot. Sure, I spend time online reading blogs and writing blogs and such, but reading books is awesome. I have four checked out from the library (maybe five… don’t think I returned the risotto book yet). I find that TV just eats my time away and I get nothing from the experience. Books give me ideas and hope and images, even dreams of what I can write next.
I know that I will need to unplug from the chaos throughout this week. I’m going to take the bus even on my hectic days because I will need the built-in time to relax. Sure, I’ll still have to drive and run errands, but at least at the end of a work day I have time to sit back and realize everything will work out just fine. I’ll have time to turn that stress into prayer.
I can let the music on my alarm clock play in the morning.