i like the beach. i always have.
the beach has everything you’d expect for an ideal day — warm sun, crashing waves, and that kind of effortless energy that makes you feel light. it’s the place you go when you want to let go, even just for an afternoon.
but i love the mountains.
the mountains are different.
they ask more of you. they require effort and attention. and in return, they offer something i haven’t found anywhere else — a quiet that feels earned.
i always come back to the memory of driving to alamere falls in marin county. the road winds sharply as it climbs. i grip the wheel a little tighter. on one side, sky and sea and a drop that makes your stomach flip. on the other, a wall of green so dense it swallows everything else. i turn the music off. sometimes, i ask my friends to quiet down. not because i need silence, but because the moment asks for it. it’s the kind of drive that hushes you just by existing.
and in those moments, i’m not thinking about my to-do list, my next deadline, or whether i said the right thing in a random text. i’m just there. fully. and that kind of presence feels rare.
i used to think what drew me to the mountains was the nature — the hikes, the trees, the fresh air. and sure, those things matter. but they’re not the reason i return.
we grow up being told to take up space. speak loudly. aim high. be bold. make yourself known. and there’s real value in that. it teaches us how to be seen.
but the mountains have taught me something else: taking up space isn’t the only way to feel whole.
sometimes, you don’t want to be big. you want to feel small.
not in a way that erases you, but in a way that puts things in perspective. in a way that hushes everything around you and reminds you that it’s okay to let go for a while. that not everything is urgent. that most of what you carry can wait — and that it might even be okay to set it down completely.
that’s why i keep going back. not just to the mountains, but to anything that reminds me i’m part of something larger than my own thoughts.
because in a world that constantly pushes us to do more, be more, and say more, there is something deeply grounding about being somewhere that simply lets you be.
– manvi :)