It’s Time To Unplug

My buddy dropped his line into the water and watched it drift down the river. Within seconds, he felt a bite. He set the hook in the fish and began to reel it in. Suddenly, the fish takes off like a shot, dragging my buddy’s line behind it. Then bang! The fish smacks itself directly into the river bank. My buddy reeled the fish in, took it off the hook, made sure it was going to be ok and released it. After watching the fish swim away my buddy returned to camp to tell me all about it. When he returned to tell the story, I was laying back in a chair asleep in a sun-beam. I was enjoying the lack of the ever present buzz we have grown used to living in today’s techno-centric age.  I suggest that you go ahead and take some time in a place where you don’t hear that buzz as well. That’s right I’m suggesting you turn off your computer, hop in a car and find a place to pitch a tent. I’m telling you to go camping.

I know the very idea of camping terrifies some of you. You don’t think you could go an hour without your smartphone, much less days. I’m telling you that you can; in fact, I’m telling you that you should. I know that I could not make it through a year if I did not take some time to go camping each summer. When you turn off the electronics and take some time to relax, you feel stress roll off of you that you didn’t even know you were feeling. We live in an age in which we are being constantly stimulated, even as I write this I’m listening to a TV show and texting a couple of friends. We enjoy this level of stimulation and have grown accustomed to it but keeping to it for a whole 365 day year places a lot of strain on the human psyche.

So now you may be saying to yourself, “Alright, this guy makes a good point, how do I go about doing what he’s said?” Well I’m not going to tell you where to go , there are lots of places to pick from in this beautiful state. Open this list and pick one. I am going to warn you to make sure you pack some warm clothes even if you go in the summer; the campgrounds of Oregon are still in Oregon people. Pick a campsite, pack up your car and drive out. Set up some chairs around a campfire, bring a book, and leave the phone in the car. One more suggestion: bring some people you like spending time with. The right people can make any situation much more enjoyable. I go with my family each year and end up spending much of the trip when I’m not sleeping, laughing. The people I go with make my annual camping trip very enjoyable and allow me to unwind enough that I can make it through my year.