I’m so tired today. 

It feels like the air has been squeezed out of my chest, leaving behind a sensation of breathlessness as I start my morning exercise

The country road I walk down is peaceful, coated with new gravel, flecked with the shimmer of granite.

I remember how precious they seemed to me as a child.

I would come home, pockets full of rocks, indistinguishable from the millions surrounding the spot I’d picked them from. 

I cleaned them, polished them, put them on display. They were priceless finds from an ordinary place I couldn’t wait to escape.

The slough beside the road rippled in the soft breeze while sunlight sparkled on the surface. 

Friendly ducks bob to the surface, moving in and out of reeds that obscure them partially from my view.

The smell of long grass tempts me, reminding me of how simple it used to be. 

I remove my headphones and breathe deeply.

Removing the sounds of technology and today, I stop beside the water and reeds,

and feel the wind on my face.

It touches me,

hesitantly at first, 

then lifts my hair more insistently.

It reminds me of the solace of nature, and I continue walking

The silence is deafening-

the sound of crickets, geese and songbirds on a telephone wire.

I feel the breathlessness lift and disappear as the scenery fills my spirit, 

lifting me up into the present,

Filling my lungs with peace