Learning to relax

I don’t really remember the last time I wasn’t busy. I guess it was in RI when we spent days sitting in our favourite spots in hidden coves or on the beach, playing in the sea and reading. But since we returned to the UK we’ve been doing life at top speed.

To begin with that was intentional. With Pete on a long deployment I wanted to fill our days with activity in an attempt to make time feel like it was passing more quickly. We did workshop upon workshop, activity upon activity, and we had to schedule in duvet days a month in advance.

Then came Covid, and, at a time when many people were being forced into a slower pace of life, our life got busier still. While the in-person activities stopped, suddenly the world was awash with online learning opportunities that were too good to miss. And at the same time I started work. Then came the decision for the boys to do GCSEs. And so our days were full… fuller than full… of learning and video editing and trying to figure out how to run a youth ministry remotely.

When he was back in the UK Pete’s job was busier than we’d really expected. And even the monthly duvet days got rarer. Then came the rush to get the house sorted, our ‘stuff’ into storage, and all while Pete and I were still working.

It was on the drive to my parents a couple of weeks ago that I realised that I’d completely forgotten how to relax. We stopped for lunch at a nature reserve and Pete took Timmy off to do some photography while I sat with Matthew for a while. And I started feeling really anxious… I just didn’t know what to do, how to do nothing, even though there was nothing I was meant to be doing.

So this first week of our travels we’ve learned how to relax again. I think we all needed to re-learn really. We’re not really a ‘sit on the beach’ family most of the time… we’re a ‘get out and see the world’ family. And there will be a lot of that to come over the next 3 years. But this week we’ve been on Isla Grande, one of the islands off the Caribbean coast of Colombia, snorkelling, reading, napping in hammocks and remembering what it is to have nothing to do.

Photo credit: Timmy Barker

The boys have been making friends with other kids at the hostel… Matthew with a Colombian boy (through a combination of sign-language, drawing and a little bit of help from daddy) and Timmy with 2 Dutch boys who are nearing the end of their year-long trip. We’ve picked up some great tips and tricks from the family.

We chose this hostel because they have a deck which opens onto a kilometre of coral reef for snorkelling. And because it’s on the right side of the island for truly spectacular sunsets. There’s been lots of fish to see, and although there is a lot of dead coral, there’s also a good amount still alive, and the hostel is involved in a project to implant new corals.

Other highlights of the week have included watching incredible thunderstorms across the ocean, the stars… there so little light pollution here that you can just see so many! And the real reason that we chose to come to Isla Grande… swimming in the Enchanted Lagoon. It’s bioluminescent plankton, not magic clearly, which makes the water sparkle as you move in it. But honestly, I felt like Tinkerbell! Seeing it in person has been a long way up on my bucket list for a while now, so that was a real treat. Sadly the go-pro wouldn’t pick it up. But I guess some things you just have to live.

So instead of photos of a dark lagoon in the dark, I’ll finish with some more snorkelling and sunset photos!!