Gaining mental clarity by solitude
Lessons from a solo backpacking trip around the coast
Sometimes life feels like jumping from one moment to the next, without any pause for resting and processing. Worse, each moment is a request for your attention, sapping at your limited mental energy. Be it demanding work tasks, personal responsibilities, certain social events or even the skills and projects you committed yourself to.
In a fast-paced world where you are constantly in competition with the market or perhaps simply yourself, you try to maximize the output of your time. In a given week you try to do as much as you can, by signing up for interesting events, going out with your friends or working on personal ambitions. Now I’m not saying everyone is like that. But if you are reading this, the chances are high you are not the type to want to stay idle - rather, you want to get somewhere.
Given this fact - can anyone really blame us for this type of behavior? Maximizing our use of time seems like a perfectly reasonable, even admirable, mindset. With all the productivity obsession on the internet going on, it does feel like productivity is THE thing everyone should master. It rides on the fact that there are people out there who want to get things done effectively. And well, that in itself is not wrong. It simply depends on the way you approach this objective.
You may balance out your high-focus mentally demanding sessions with sufficient resting time. Although depending on the type of work you are doing or the environment you are in or both, this may work out more or less optimally.
How about when you are not working? Well, even your off-work time can be spent in a way that is detrimental to your headspace. Just check how much screen time you spend on your phone on a day on average, and which kind of apps you use for how long. If you think to yourself “Oof, I shouldn’t have spent this much time staring at my phone”, then you are not alone. Today, the average adult’s screen time is around 7 hours. If you are a young adult or your work is mainly staring at the screen it tends to get worse.
Of course, it matters greatly what you do during that screen time. You could be doing work that is important to you, or you are setting aside some time for entertainment that you feel you deserve. On the other hand, you may be victim of the infinte scroll social media and many other platforms has devised for us to continue consuming. But really, you want to create instead, not just consume, or be active instead of passive.
Soo, are we doomed either way? Whether you are really focused on work or trapped into unintentional consuming off-work, your mind gets exhausted from all the information you receive or process.
Does this feeling seem familiar to you? That feeling of your head getting full, being bombarded by everything all at once seemingly. At the very least you are a bit under tension, but you don’t really realize it until you are sitting somewhere quietly - or standing, maybe you are waiting for someone - and then you realize “Oh, why is it so quiet, it’s so…peaceful”, even though this is the feeling you want more of:
Tranquility amidst the chaos.
You only realize how much of a break you really needed when you actually go on one.
Luckily for me, it was Easter around this time, so I took one day off work, which together with the holidays got me a prolonged weekend of 5 days. I simply had to make good use of this rare opportunity and I’ve had the idea of going somewhere far from the busy and buzzing Barcelona city. Best in some village in Catalunya, near the coast, somewhere idyllic, where I can stay for a few nights and relax, get my mind off. Have some headspace to reflect.
And what brilliant idea that ended up being.
So having booked the hostel I got up, packed my stuff, filmed the remaining scenes for my YouTube video at home, and off I was to Llanca.
Without all this noise of the outside world, you can examine your life more objectively, all the issues that need addressing.
I think for me as someone who overthinks a lot but at the same time is very ambitious and wants to do everything - as I mentioned, maximizing your output or use of time - it can be mentally straining.
Of course, when you’re in the midst of it, getting by day by day, working under the week, only having the weekend off where you often enough say “Ok, finally some free time, I should go out or do something cool”, you just don’t notice how much you should just take it easy and chill.
Almost always, you’re still surrounded by life, the daily life, the stuff that is always surrounding you. Which is excatly why getting far far away from where you are usully based is a great kind of switch.
It’s like a reset. It’s like you’re somewhere and nowhere at the same time. It’s like your starting anew.
When I was in Llanca - this beautiful small village directly at the coast (Costa Brava) - I just hear the sounds of the waves crashing. It was so calming.
You are so far away from where you’ve been all this time that it almost feels like you’re turning a new leaf, you are starting from the beginning. After all, there is no one to distract you from anything, no one knows you.
I mean when you are in the middle of work or life, you kind of have this identity of who you are or what you are supposed to so. However, when you are in the middle of nature, then it really does feel like you are by yourself and there is nothing attached to you. It’s almost like you are naked, you have no obligation to do anything other than just reflect and enjoy the whimsiness and delightfulness of nature and life in its purest form.
This reset is something that everyone should have every once in a while. Just looking at the sky, admiring its beauty, just kind of getting out of your head. Naturally, you are then overcome by this feeling of gratitude for the life you are living, and you get a reflection of what really matters to you.
Gaining mental clarity by solitude.
This is great and all, but you ain’t seen nothing yet!
On this 5-day solo backpacking trip I also had another mission: Filming for my YouTube video. And honestly, this turned out great. I put in a lot of effort to push myself to another level in terms of cinematography and filming intentionally. This one is a lot more focused, a compelling message matched with great visuals and sounds.
If you enjoyed the video, it would mean the world to me if you subscribed as well! I know a lot of people don’t, even when they liked the video. However, every sub helps the channel and motivates me a lot. It’s like a vote of confidence that what I’m doing makes sense and should continue. Thanks for the support! 🫶
-Patrick