The Silence of the Night: A Few Thoughts from A Night Alone on the Coast
Our Not-So-Simple Lives May Be the Problem
Last night, I slept next to a small forest stream whose waters carried nutrients down through the valley, slowly making their way to the rigid, cold, and salty waves of the Pacific Ocean, some half a mile away.
I was camping on the embankment of the stream, a few hundred feet from the edge of the bubbling waters. It was just me for the night, having found a bit of luck to grab the last available spot in the campground, which is otherwise filled to the brim with big groups of families, nomadic roadtrippers stopping for the night, and other celebrants of the upcoming American holiday.
For most of the evening, I sat around the fire pit reading my book. I had recently picked up The Blue Machine by Helen Czerski and was excited to start diving into a book about the way the ocean affects our planet, while sitting a few hundred yards away from that said ocean. It felt like an inspired move.
Although the book is endlessly fascinating, throughout the evening, I found myself drifting off into contemplation and thought. Spurred on by the sounds of the stream, which provided a calming and lovely backdrop to the otherwise quiet stillness of the night, my thoughts were allowed to roam freely across various ideas, topics, and contemplations.
Eventually, I found myself falling into a sort of existential thread regarding the purpose of our existence on the planet, thinking more deeply about the meaning behind our lives.
This type of deep thinking seems to commonly happen when I’m close to the ocean, probably due to the humbling nature of the endless blue horizon.
For myself, nights alone in nature have been less common in recent years than they were in my early and mid-20s. It’s been a lack that I've become more and more conscious of in recent months, primarily because I started Human Nature to push myself and others into spending more time in the natural world.
Therefore, the quiet evening alone offered a chance to take a step in the right direction and use my time to reconnect with the world around me.
Because of this, one of the ideas I kept coming back to was the remedy of spending time in nature. As someone who works primarily online, spending alot of time on Zoom meetings, and is, like the rest of us, slightly addicted to his phone, being outside of cell service was liberating.
My overstimulated brain was grateful. It could take a moment to breathe and be free of the endless onslaught of useless information, found in the form of Instagram posts, TikTok reels, and the endless media cycle.
Instead of scanning for notifications, I was able to scan the local environment and notice the deep green moss that was quietly colonizing every one of the trees in this Pacific Northwest forest. I was able to listen to the sound of a Great-Horned Owl hooting in the distance or a Yellow Warbler whisping across the tops of the trees. I could listen to the waves crashing on the beach, the wind blowing through the pines, and the laughs of friends enjoying time around the fire a few campsites down.
In these moments, I was overcome with one remarkable fact. Our lives have become overrun with information, from the endless list of daily meetings to the addictive, compulsory need to fill all our free time with mindless entertainment.
In reality, though, the act of living and being happy is breathtakingly simple.
It’s something I forget too often. As many of us do, I often find myself scrolling through social media, spending my free time watching the latest television show, and have been known to endlessly refresh my email inbox.
That’s why, here in this moment outdoors, I was overcome with a reminder of what it was like to simply exist in the world.
I was calm. My body felt relaxed. And my mind was able to focus on the simple tasks of eating, sleeping, and existing.
This opportunity to exist made me think more about my everyday life and the decisions I’ve made to fill my mind with a complex network of useless information. It also\ reminded me of the very teachings of meditation, and the process of existing in the moment, instead of endlessly seeking to get away from it.
It was a welcome message from the natural world. A blaringly loud sign to take care of my brain and focus more on the things that matter.
And although we all have our commitments, responsibilities, and very real need to stay involved with the rapidly changing world around us, maybe we could be more conscious of how we are going about achieving them.
It’s not that our virtual lives are inherently bad, but they often promise connection and peace, while quietly pulling us away from both. And in their absence, I was reminded of how simple and beautiful just being alive can feel.
P.S. I want to note that this isn’t a call to step away from the very issues at hand. I recently wrote about not looking away and the need to continue to look at the very real things happening in our world. It’s the useless information that can be filtered through. The social media, mindless entertainment, and constant barrage of outside opinion. By replacing those with moments like this, we can have more fuel for our fire to hopefully continue living a happier and more responsible life.
Join Us for the July Happy Hour
Join us for the Human Nature Happy Hour session, where we can come together to share our thoughts, contemplations, and nerd out about the natural world. For the third session, we’ll be meeting (virtually) on July 17th at 5:00 PM PST.
Keeping with our way of water series, we’re looking to share ideas about connecting with water, favorite memories from being in (or around) water, and discuss some ideas for future trips, events, and adventures.
These happy hour sessions are primarily a chance to gather together and meet new people while sharing our passion for the natural world. All you need to attend the event is to sign up below and bring a drink (cocktails, mocktails, and even water are all welcome) of your choice to have a chat.
NOTE: Remember to sign up for our membership community, The Naturalists, which includes access to the Monthly Challenges, community chat, upcoming events, and more. Sign up and join our Naturalist community below.
Thanks for being here, friends. Enjoy the holiday weekend. Stay safe and spend some time outside. See you in the next one.
With Love,
Keegan
