Last week I had the wonderful pleasure of heading up to Maine to explore Acadia National Park for a few days. We camped outside in our little two person tent and I realized it was the first time, probably since I was a wee Girl Scout, that I’d been in the outdoors for that length of time. It was different, and nice, but what struck me most was the silence.

At the campground, there’s no television or radio, the bathrooms make a muffled hush, people keep to themselves, and the occasional car drives by. So other than the sound you make in your own campsite, you’re actually able to hear the wind through the trees, the crunch of the leaves underneath your feet, and the rustling of a bird soaring from branch to branch.

Each night when we arrived after sunset to make our camp, our headlamps lit the picnic table and the pocket-size stove that cooked our food, but all around us was silence. That kind of quiet was like a sanctuary. Time slowed down, stress and anxiety melted away, and there was nothing calling for my attention except the task of making dinner in a teeny pot.

Now that I’m back from camping, it’s taken me a few days to get back into the swing of normal life and readjust to the sounds and stimulus we experience in our modern world. I’m so excited to share some stories from this latest trip, but I’m also doing my best to hold on to that quiet stillness. Calm brings incredible focus and I don’t plan on letting it go any time soon.

Have you been camping recently? Do you enjoy the quiet of nature? Share with me in the comments below!