Slow and Quiet

Vacations are usually filled with go, go, go because we invested so much money into the flight, the hotel, and the planning, that we want to check off doing as much as we can. But that can be exhausting!

I’ve learned that we need to build in pauses and intentionally make sure we slow down to enjoy the moment. To be in the present. To soak in where we are and who we are with. It’s those moments of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling that allows us to appreciate the vacation and actually feel like we are on vacation! It is also what we often need…time to slow down so we can rest and refresh.

I’ve learned this over past travels and on my most recent trip with the family to Japan. I learned one more thing my soul needs to consider a trip, an actual vacation. Besides slowing down, I also needed some peace and quiet.

With two very energized and very happy kids, they are always talking and playing. I’m grateful that they do, but when you are with them for 24 hours, two weeks in a row, and they don’t stop…you need them to stop. :P

My kids love to play and they love to read, but on this trip, we didn’t have reading on our schedule. Just a lot of eating, sight seeing, and transporting between one thing after another and so they did a lot of talking! :p

However, when we stumbled across a very clean and minimalist library in a gorgeous ryokan in Jozankei, it’s like everything slowed down. Time stood still. They quietly scanned through the books lining the shelves, and even though everything was written in Japanese, they found a comfortable spot, sat down, flipped it open, and quietly looked through the pictures. The environment and the experiences of a library, was a cue to their little brains, that they should also slow down, quiet their bodies, and it wasn’t a time for playing or chatting.

And then there was slow AND quiet.

I found a moment of pause, rest, and refreshment in that library and it became my favorite spot and moment on our entire vacation to Japan. It was a beautiful space that beckoned curiosity, calm, and invited you to sit and stay a while. But it also gave me some moments of quiet contentment while everyone held a book in their hand.

Finding peace by piece:

We may not get to everything on our schedule while on vacation, but make sure you schedule slow and quiet into it to really actually feel like you’re on vacation. Something as simple as finding a little library may be just the little rest and refresh you need!