Over reading week, I visited my family up North who live off the grid. I go up there every chance I get, obviously because I love them, but also because I love being in the bush away from my day-to-day life. It’s just so nice to be out in nature away from responsibilities for a bit and to refresh myself. Being with family who don’t hold any judgement and don’t have the same expectations of me as the real world does is a nice change sometimes too. Although there are still responsibilities and chores to do up there, it’s a time to just relax and be carefree.
Being off the grid up north means there’s a lot of outdoor space and ample time to get fresh air. We often go for walks on the trails through the bush, which is a good workout, but also fun. Because there are so many different trails, we can choose a new route each day to switch things up. This allows more variety in our scenery for our walks and makes it more interesting. We can look at the trees, lakes, animal prints and all the other things embedded in nature. In the winter, if we’re not walking through the bush, we’re snowmobiling. This is always fun, especially with a group of people to share the time with. Since there’s so much space to ride around I get to do what I can’t do at home, which makes it even more special. However, we aren’t the only ones that use the space outside; there are also farm animals. I got to visit chickens, pigs, cows and more! Interacting with them is so wholesome because they’re just happy to live life and they pass that feeling along to me. There’s something about taking care of the animals that makes me feel so full inside. The connection that’s built is pure.
The other part of unplugging is getting to do things you wouldn’t always do in your daily life. It’s kind of like reconnecting with your inner child. Instead of using our phones as much as we normally would to socialize, we played card games. It allowed us to connect while having fun together. We also watched movies and shows that we used to watch as kids, which really brought back that carefree feeling. Watching these simple shows allowed us to let our brains relax and return to times of peace. Laughing together at what used to connect us in the past gave me a sense of comfort. Something else we did that isn’t always part my daily life is singing and dancing. We put on songs we all knew and sang our hearts out like no one could hear us, which they couldn’t because we were in the bush! But we couldn’t blast music and not dance so we had lots of dance parties. Dancing things out is important and is good for releasing stress. There was no judgement of each other, it was just all fun and love.
My favourite part of unplugging and being with my family is feeling free and being my goofiest self that I can’t always be in certain aspects of life. There’s no pressure to be anything else but my true authentic self which is a comforting feeling to have. There’s no set schedule to follow, you can just do what will make you happy in the moment. I think the best thing is just the immense feeling of love I have when I’m unplugged and off the grid with the people I love. It doesn’t actually matter where you are, if you’re in the bush or in the city, anywhere you’re unplugged and with your loved ones is a refreshing experience like no other.