Quiet Time: My Amazoning Experience
When I decided at the last minute to go through the Amazon on my way from magical Medellin to adventurous Machu Picchu, it didn’t actually occur to me that I was going to be IN the Amazon.
I know that sounds a bit odd but, with my nomadic non-stop travel lifestyle, it’s not unusual because I was always planning some trip or another. And so there I was, in the Amazon, on the days leading up to Christmas. I received a fantastic deal on an all-inclusive lodge – because it was last minute - in the very interior of the Peruvian jungle about 3.5 hours from Iquitos. It was amazing! Or shall I say amazoning!
I was working on a number of projects at that moment and really just needed a quiet place to get away for a few days to get some of my thoughts down onto paper. The lodge – full of no one else except the guides and the spiders and the mosquitoes - was exactly what I asked for. In that kind of peace and quiet, I find that my brain can decompress and sort through things that I have trouble processing in busier environments. See, I try my best to keep a low-stress environment with yoga and meditation and running and good reading, but that can only do so much when I’m surrounded by the distractions and temptations of modern technology.
“It is incredible to me how productive and creative the mind can be when it is given some peace, quiet, and a little boredom. Perhaps, in our over-stimulated world — a world in which I’m an active participant – our minds can’t get that.”
That’s why, when the opportunity presented itself to go even further into the Amazon jungle, I couldn’t resist. A night of canoe camping – Canadian style – and sleeping in a hammock tent made for a perfect final evening. We filled our days and nights catching fish. The bullfrogs and the birds were almost deafening but somehow lulled me to sleep. In that space, out among nature without distractions, I finally found room to think.
It is incredible to me how productive and creative the mind can be when it is given some peace, quiet, and a little boredom. Perhaps, in our over-stimulated world — a world in which I’m an active participant – our minds can’t get that. I have known for a while now how important it is to take some time for myself away from the pulls and shiny objects of the world (and the science backs it up - check out the great Bored and Brilliant, by Manoush Zomorodi), but that does not diminish how awesome it is when I get to do it.
That time out in nature was what I needed to clear the fog from my thought process, but you don’t have to go somewhere far from home to get away from distraction. Myrth is set up to allow minimal digital interaction throughout the day--just enough to allow you to check-in, hold yourself accountable and support your buddies and circles.
“I’ve learned something important while solo traveling: your brain needs quiet and space to come up with new ideas.”
The rest can be done with pen and paper or using some other non-internet-based method. It gives you a chance to put down the phone, step away from the laptop, go outside, and just... breathe.
That’s because I’ve learned something important while solo traveling: your brain needs quiet and space to come up with new ideas. No matter how far away from home base I wandered, if I still had my laptop and phone connected to the Internet, I was distracted and busy. I needed to disconnect.
And so the lesson from this short adventure is this: whenever you can, go somewhere without distractions. Go as far as you can. Get the quiet you deserve.
When was the last time you went somewhere to completely unplug and write with a pen and paper?
