As February comes to a close, I found myself struggling with what should follow my last post after trying to inspire the “masses” of how the new-year should be a new you. It wasn’t until I recently came back from an out of town trip to the sleepy mountain town of Arnold, CA where I realized how important it is for me to disconnect from time to time. I know the irony here: “Hey everybody unplug but make sure you read my blog!” however, it was a single moment captured in time for me that made me come to this thought.

Arnold, about 2.5 hours east of the San Francisco Bay Area is at the foothills of the Sierra Mountains Southeast of Sacramento and Northeast of Stockton. One of its claim to fames is their Big Tree National park and their largest lake being Lake Alpine but above all: No Cell Service!

So after months of frustration in my job search, a family friend of mine offered to take my fiancé and I up to his cabin to get away from the hubbub of job applications, phone interviews, and constant worry about my social status in life. The drive up was nothing special; mostly a highway with which I was very familiar being dotted with strip malls but once we got past Livermore, everything seemed to change. We caught a few hawk sightings along the side of the road perching on top of telephone poles or on treetops; mostly Red Tails, Red Shoulders, an occasional White Tailed Kite. We started to gradually climb and the terrain seemed to just spill out a lush green, likened to what I envisioned the Highlands of Scotland to be like. Soon fields upon fields and endless rows of pine trees became ubiquitous along the horizon and finally that beautiful pure white snow soon dotted along the side of the road.

The moment I saw snow on the ground on the side of the road, something inside me changed. It was a welcome reprieve of everything I left behind. While this was only for a short weekend trip, a sudden stillness appeared inside me washing away all of the worries and neurosis that I had been dealing with these last few months since my recovery and subsequent career search. Soon the sides of the road and surrounding hills were covered in snow, apparently some of the greatest downfall they’ve had in the last decade. The Bay Area had been slammed with flooding and torrential rain in the last 2 weeks so it looked as though the surrounding mountains were inviting it to pound into their rocks and crags.

The day we arrived, we decided to do the “leisure” activity of snowshoeing, something I was greatly mistaken would be. Because the snow was so thick and deep, I found myself practically digging out my feet with every step, putting my daily jogging routine to shame. I had to stop for a second though and take it all in. What truly amazed me was when I listened, I heard absolutely nothing. This was truly the moment I was seeking.

The aforementioned Lake Alpine was completely frozen over with a nice thick layer of fresh powder on top, which allowed us to do the Jesus thing and walk across the lake to a rock formation and survey the surrounding area. A light snow was beginning to fall and while I was exhausted from the hike, the surveying scene was serene. It made me think to myself, “I have to do this much much more”. On top of that, for those that know of my birding side, we went on a short hike on the day we left and came upon a small pond with a lone Common Merganser swimming playfully by itself. It was an odd scene but it was a perfect description of the beautiful isolation that was Arnold.

While this was a very short trip, it was exactly what I needed to get out of dodge and truly look within.

So those out there sitting at the dinner table or out in front of the TV and you’ve got your phone or tablet in front of you, do me a favor and don’t. I know it’s tough, I truly do and while I would recommend everyone to do an excursion such as mine, I know it’s really hard to not look away. Maybe we should all try baby steps and just turn airplane mode on once a day?