Home Is a Warm Harbor

Society is a complicated machine. Anyone living in it runs out of battery sometimes, so recharging becomes something we can't do without. On New Year's Day, I was at the foot of Mount Emei, listening to the babbling water, and I thought to myself: nature really is a great place to recharge! On the mountain, my legs got hurt from hiking for so long, and it was going to affect my life for a while (only today can I say my legs have fully healed). Back then my legs ached, I was worn out from the long trek, and I was still carrying the same old dread and regret about the future. I stood on the Golden Summit of Mount Emei with some spirit left in me, but no triumph. The charge I'd worked so hard to build at the foot of the mountain was almost gone by the time I reached the Golden Summit. That's fine. A charge is there to be used, and what does it matter how you use it? The problem was that my legs hurt badly. I needed to recharge more than ever, but with my legs injured, I couldn't wander around the foot of Mount Emei the way I had before. I came home exhausted and took off the hiking gear that had been through a night of wind and frost. My body felt a weight lift, but the pain in my legs was still sharp. I collapsed onto the bed, and the familiar feeling of home wrapped around me. I was tired all over and had only just walked in, yet I already felt more than half better. I've written before that when my energy is low, I really like to stay home all day and do nothing. Why is that? Probably because apart from nature, "home" is the only thing in the world that recharges you as well as nature does. More than that, if you compare home with nature, home is even more healing.