It cracks me up when I hear San Francisco tech bros complaining about their jobs and the housing market while sitting in a hot spring. Maybe they think they’re relaxing in the hot water, but I don’t think they’re really relaxing. It seems like they’re continuing to feel the stress from their work lives.
And yes, this happens pretty often in California hot springs.
Even in this beautiful natural setting, they’re not able to think about nature because they’re still thinking about their manager and their apartment and all of these other things.
Myself, I moved away from San Francisco long enough ago that I no longer spend most of my time thinking about housing or my tech job. I feel somewhat superior at having successfully detached from that world, relieving myself from the conditions for severe burnout.
But I, too, can spend all my time in a hot spring thinking only about the past or the future.
Thinking about the past, I listen to and tell stories. Explaining how I got there, how we rented the van, where we drove from, what my job is, all the logistics of life that add up to being in some remote location in the eastern Sierras.
Thinking about the future, I chat with Dave seemingly endlessly about where we should travel next, what hikes we want to do, which days are going to be library days, how to stay in good quality air, what food we want to get, what ranger programs we want to attend, where do we find our next cheap gas…
Sharing past stories can be helpful, talking it out to relieve stress. And, logistical travel concerns can expand to fill the entire time.
But there’s also a beauty in being able to let the past and future go sometimes.
I think some people assume I’m carefree while camping and traveling, or that it’s automatic to become absorbed in nature away from the internet, phone, computer, work, and social communication.
But actually, all these things are still present in my life.
(See what I did there? The stress is present, not past or future…)
It takes a real conscious focused effort to notice where I physically am, in the present moment, even if I’m in a beautiful natural place. Some technology tricks help. I put my phone on airplane mode while I’m hiking, even if I’m in a location that might have cell coverage.
Airplane mode helps preserve my battery life so I can take all the photos I want and identify birds based on their sounds and check the map in AllTrails to figure out where I’m going. And, I don’t want to be getting messages real-time which I won’t have the mental bandwidth or cell signal to respond to at that time.
