Sometimes, you just want to let loose and get away from people. Away from the noise, the drama, the endless cacophony of troubles, trivialities, controversies and just everything. Sometimes though, it’s just not possible. Living in a third world country of 100 million, people tend to find you all the time. Each day wears you down and takes a toll on your spirit and sometimes even your will to live.
Being alone can be healthy
It’s amazing what some people can do when they are all alone. Some just bask in the joy of finding themselves within a world of wondrous beauty. Some create poetry by waving their fingers at the sky and pretending they wrote the clouds. Some introspect and gain some valuable perspective about life and what life holds. Some break into song with tears flowing from their eyes while sitting on a bamboo raft on a lake. The orange sunset ebbs with an invisible rhythm quite apart from those of the waves of the water.
Freedom from people
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just for a while or so, declare independence from people? From here on forward, there’s only the universe and you. In the morning you forage for food and just try to live with what is there in the land. You grab an apple or an orange after weaving through a dense thicket. You find a nice cozy spot beneath a tree and munch on the apple as you see other creatures trying to do the same. On top of a log in front of you, a gecko watches intently. It lunges quickly as you take another bite. You marvel at how it was able to eat a dragonfly. Nature takes its course.
Feeling refreshed
You’ve since been accustomed to life in the wild and feel the need for going back. You head out back to civilization and you find its first manifestations. As you traverse the land, you pick up a piece of chipped concrete and recognize it to be a part of a wall or a street. You walk further and you discover gray pavement. A car whizzes by and you look at it as if it were the first time you ever saw one. There are people inside and they’re looking at you strangely. You wave and smile. As you make your way back, the glimpses of the reality you were once in slowly fades like the echo of a waterfall. Traces of humanity begin to increase as you get closer and closer to that life you once had. First you see electric lines, then road signs. Little farm houses with a few people sparsely mark the land as you feel like you are getting closer. Apartment rows, traffic lights and now buildings. You’re back.
You are different and yet, you are the same.
Creative commons image via Flickr