Practicing Doing Nothing

For four or five Summers in a row, I've gone on a camping trip with my kids to a place in Wisconsin near and dear to my heart... The Minocqua area.

 

Growing up, I would camp there every summer and loved exploring the trails and campgrounds around "Big Muskie" and Crystal Lake, as well as Firefly and Fallison Lake. I had plans once again this summer to Camp up there with Edwin, 10, and Estelle, 8. Emerin will join us soon enough...when she's out of a diaper permanently.

Then, like most things about 2020, plans changed. The uncertainty of even being able to camp along with uncertainties regarding work, kids' sports, and pretty much everything else, and I decided to cancel that trip "Up Nort."

 

Instead we chose a staycation. We spent last Sunday through Wednesday camping at Long Lake in the Northern Kettles. The Kettles are another place near and dear to both my childhood self and my current self as I love camping and hiking and trail running throughout. While it wasn't a big adventure where we drove 4 1/2 hours North, it was absolutely wonderful. Because of less travel time and closer proximity to home, we had much more time to simply relax and practice doing nothing.

  

Edwin still attended baseball practice and games, Estelle still got to ride her horse, Jack, and also attend softball practice. And I did not need to plan meals quite so thoroughly, as we weren't far from home...let alone the Hamburger Haus in Dundee. From our campsite the stars were still just as bright and just as pretty, we had campfires and relaxed and even had my parents out for breakfast one morning to celebrate my dad's birthday. My only complaint would have been to bring an extra hat for myself as the deer flies were terrible on our bike rides. All in all though, setting up camp, relaxing in hammocks, watching the fire burn, yet also being close enough to home to run back for an extra hat and eggs for breakfast in the morning made the trip most definitely worthwhile.

 

I think we all need to just slow down every now and then. And it's something that must be practiced. Personally, I'm pretty terrible at doing nothing, and find myself often simply trying to fill time when what would be the best thing to do is to just relax. That's my suggestion to you, as we move into August. Summer is winding down. There is still plenty of uncertainty about the fall. But take some time together with your family and friends in fresh air and sunshine and practice "doing nothing" every now and then.