Have you ever sat on a bench on a park, without moving, for 5 minutes, simply watching the world go by? After my run Sunday evening, I had a lot on my mind. Plagued with anxiety about the upcoming year; about lack of challenge in my classes; about the holidays; about just not knowing what's going to happen this year, I was (once again) feeling extremely overwhelmed and powerless.
So I did what (seemingly) every person over the age on 65 does here. I simply sat on a bench. With no music to listen to, nothing to write with, nobody to talk to, the challenge was to let my mind unwind. This is what people do here. They aren't plugged into electronics or constantly engaged in conversation or rushing from one activity to the next. How different from everything I am used to!
Five minutes; that was my challenge. To not move, and to rest my bones on an old, black cast iron bench; how difficult could it be? To simply listen to the sounds of children playing, couples chatting, and water spraying out of the fountain in the middle of the park; to feel the breeze gently drift through the city, and to watch the orange sun set in the hazy sky and rest behind the hills in the distance, feeling the warmth of the day slowly recede. Sitting there, doing absolutely nothing, took some getting used to, but eventually, my mind settled down and I could feel myself relaxing. This cleared my mind of all I was worried about. After five minutes I stood up, feeling calm and rested, at peace and empty of the anxiety that had plagued me minutes before.
And I realized that I think I will be able to survive a year in this strange, new country.
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