Where do you find airplane mode?
Every year or so, I visit my husband’s family in Cuba. It’s time I relish for some of what you might expect. Sticky sweet backyard mangos, stunning beach sunsets, and my father-in-law’s smile in the airport lobby.
What’s harder to name is the absolute lack of pressure I feel while there.
There is limited to no cell service in Cuba. For the first 24 hours of my visit, I often catch myself reaching for my phone, to be reminded that I’m living in “forever airplane mode.”
So, instead, I rock. I sit in a big rocking chair in my mother-in-law’s living room and rock away, free from the pressure to produce, respond, consume content, or generally do.
What follows is a spaciousness that’s hard to come by, at least for me.
It was in that rocking chair nearly two years ago that I pondered the possible shape of having my own business.
As I wish myself in that rocking chair on some days, I’ve wondered where I give myself permission to enter “airplane mode” when I’m not on island time.
I can tell that you one constant across such moments has been: away my desk. I’ve found that spaciousness in meditation, walks in nature, acupuncture, subway commutes, and literal airplane mode jetting across the sky.
The permission to do nothing can seem antithetical to bringing out our greatest gifts. Yet, there’s a rocking chair waiting for me that tells me otherwise.
This reflection was included in one of my newsletters. Want to receive future writings + the resources that go along with them? Subscribe.