No money, no keys, no phone

No money, no keys, no phone

What would you do if you had no money, no keys and no phone for a short while? Recently on holiday in Spain, early one morning, my husband and I set off for a fast paced walk around the stunning Cami Ronda (the coastline from St Pol to Sa Conca, Costa Brava).

So we left home with no money, no keys and no phone! We were gone for just two hours. What we discovered was liberating. We had only a light towel and bottle of water in hand.

We enjoyed every bit of the walk; the smell of the sea air, the sound of the sea crashing on the rocks and the changing colour of the water as it deepened further out. Furthermore we felt the subtle changes in the wind as it stroked our faces as we turned the corners along the path.

We noticed how some trees had been knock sideways by heavy winds earlier in the year. We felt the warmth of the sun on our skin and then coolness when we moved to the shade momentarily as others passed us on the path. We observed the beautiful villas high up from the path, many in the old traditional Catalan style, each unique and exquisite.

We turned the last corner and the beach beckoned. The sea was stunning, the sun shining on the waves as they rolled into the beach. We descended further, found a small spot to leave our towels, clothes and shoes and ran into the water. It was exhilarating. The freshness of the seawater was like an instant massage on our skin.  We were warm from our walking and so the coolness of the water was accentuated even more.

We swam out around the buoys and diving platform covering some 400 metres. The waves were fair and every now again I turned to see if my husband was close by and although I couldn’t see him, I knew he was there. And then, his head popped up as the wave descended. This made me smile. We were in it together, sharing this amazing experience.  We continued our swim back to the beach, stopping at the edge to enjoy floating on the waves, taking in the view of the amazing coastline and feeling grateful for this experience.

We discovered how liberating it was to have no money, no keys and no phone. Not only did we not need to worry about carrying these or leaving them on the beach, we knew we could enjoy this experience uninterrupted. Our mind was free to experience every moment of the walk and the swim.

What I took from this experience is an experiment to build in more uninterrupted time like this as part of my everyday; not just whilst on holiday. I can already imagine having some time during the day with no money, no keys and no phone (I will be replacing the Cami Ronda with a walk in our village, our dog Charlie, leading the way).

If you knew you could do without your money, keys or phone for a short while, how would you spend your time?

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