Underrated

After many consecutive hours of doing nothing except staring into space on my trip to Bangladesh, I decided that doing so is vastly underrated.  I highly recommend this inactivity as a stellar de-stressor. I didn't read, I didn't watch movies or listen to music, I didn't visit with my neighbors, and I didn't even sleep much.  I thought and processed thoroughly some of the less savory events preceding my travel.  Mostly, I savored my freedom, confined though I was in the seat of an airplane.  For me, hyperactivity has always been confined to the inside of my cranium, and that could proceed unhindered with seat belt firmly latched.

Particularly in the United lounge in Houston, but also in other outbound airports, I poured my thoughts in writing into a green theme book--one of many brightly-colored ones Hiromi purchased at WalMart during their back-to-school sale.  The first part is full of what I was leaving behind.  The last part focuses on what I experienced at my destination.  The writing in that green theme book is another important part of my de-stressing.

In Bangladesh, I often wrote early in the morning, on the chaise lounge just inside the living room verandah at J & H's house, with the drapery pulled back and one glass door open to the morning light and bird sounds (the street sounds gradually ramped up as well).  Once, aboard the cruise ship, with Arwen still sleeping in the bunk above me, I turned on the dim light above my bunk and wrote.  Those lines are squiggly, since I couldn't really see well enough to know where my writing was landing.

Several times I described my experience during travel as "stress draining away."  One great load disappeared during the long journey from home to BD.  What still remained left during the train ride through the countryside to the launching spot for the river cruise boat, and in the days following while we were on the river(s).  After that I simply soaked up what was to be enjoyed around me.

I was pleased to discover what is left after stress  leaves.  The ability to think and plan creatively is one thing--without the feeling that any departure from severe objectivity is a waste of time.  The return of hope is another.  I found it easier to think beyond the task of survival, and  more able to consider the needs of those around me.  The de-stress timing was impeccable for me, although it required sacrifice from others around me to make the trip possible.

Last summer Hiromi and I did not take any time away from home for a vacation--not even for a night or a day.  This fall we've thoroughly compensated for that omission--he with a trip to Japan and I with the trip to BD.  Such lavish compensation can't happen every year, but I'm very grateful for the special pleasures we've both enjoyed recently.