Today I spent the day mostly sleeping and reading a Sarah Dessen book. All the while, my friend stayed with me throughout. It was nice to have someone there. Just another body being still and providing that opportunity for human interaction if wanted was nice.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t been interacting with people recently. More like, sometimes I forget how important touch and physical closeness to other bodies are to our mental and spiritual health.

Like I said, I didn’t do much today. I read outloud from this girly romance and D and I just laughed and made comments throughout. If you’re really intrigued about what it was and why it was so comical, it’s called Along for the Ride (all jokes aside, not a bad novel). We didn’t talk about anything substantial and like I also said, I spent half the time asleep while D did homework, played on her phone or watched Vikings. We also had an hour or so where I badly serenaded her with old High School Musical songs. See, nothing substantial.

I think a contributing factor to this exceptionally peaceful day was that I was off social media all day too. I’ve been doing social media cleanses every other week now. Obviously I cheat here and there if someone says there is a specific thing I need to see on Facebook pertaining to me but other than that, I’ve been cold turkey. I also wasn’t on my computer all day. Being disconnected from tech, as important as it is to my life (#millennialjournalist), and focusing on the basic human relationship I have with my friend was perfect. Even more so, it wasn’t heavy – there was very little chatter minus me reading out loud from the book, commentary on Eli and Auden’s developing relationship and whatever was going on in Vikings.

I used to take roomie naps with Hilda freshman year. One night Michael read aloud from one of my favorite books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Never however, have I spent an entire day indulging in these activities with a friend. Obviously I can’t do it all the time but I will add it to my list of peace methods: at least once every couple of months (maybe once a month if needed) have a lazy day with a friend. Nothing heavy, nothing too school related. Just mutually providing companionship in the most basic form.

And with that I return to the real world of work, school and constant chatter a little more at peace and little lighter on my feet.

Peace,

-M