After 8 days of complete isolation, I’m on my way back home to Seattle. I’ve been away in the middle of nowhere which I’ll share more tomorrow or so. It’ll be good to come back home…I’ve missed Minhee and the kids so much that it was driving me a little insane. But it was also good to be completely isolated in this small town in the middle of nowhere. No TV, no internet, no radio…nothing…minus two cheating incidents of “borrowing” some bandwidth outside a Quizno’s shop Dairy Queen to post the last blogpost and to tend to other matters.
I did a lot of thinking about the past and future, more thinking about my calling as a pastor, working on projects on a friend’s farm, praying, some reading, working on the poverty organization, and lots of this:
Being away in complete isolation reminded me of the SEVEN trips I took – ALONE – from one coast to the other in my early 20s. I would get in my car and just drive for days and at times, weeks…alone. I’ve always been an introvert…an introvert who’s since learned good social skills. But corroborated by the fact that I was voted “the shyest person” in 6th or 7th grade, I have a place in my soul that just needs to retreat.
Any other introverts here? How do you balance yourself?
Minhee was gracious to let me get away completely alone. Something I haven’t done in years. On my facebook status a week+ ago, I wrote that I was going where no Asian has gone before. Apparently, I was wrong since the wikipedia page for this town shows that Asians comprise of .27%.
Anybody want to guess where I was? If I told you, don’t ruin the guessing game.
EUGENE CHO 
Eugene, that is one big fish. Largemouth bass, right?
Serious introvert here. As far on the I as an INFP can be :).
I spend time in the mornings and evenings after everybody else is asleep, by myself. I often take lunches or a coffee break by myself. I put my headphones on for concentration, often with no music on but just headphones on my ears. I ride a motorcycle (no radio) :). And I think constantly about what it means to have the soul of a monk in the lifestyle of a suburban family guy who does software 🙂
Long walks is my balancing point. Helps me to unwind especially when I take them in the evenings.
I hear you there, Pat. I feel kind of the same way–the soul of a nun in the body and life of a restaurant cashier (I’m a girl, so the monk thing kinda doesn’t apply). I love getting up and watching the sun rise, simply sitting quietly. I also use a lot of my train rides for meditation, and love journaling. That’s my retreat, taking time to write, since it separates me from everything else. Love it! (I guess introversion isn’t a bad thing sometimes!)
Writing is an escape, retreating into my own headspace for a while with some tunes and a notebook.
I also enjoy running and long walks.