Living in the mountains

At first, these long stretches of green with on and off electricity might feel inconvenient. Mountains do stand tall and strong but rarely do people realize that they do stand alone. I was living in the mountains for a while and as intimidating as it was initially, it became my home in no time. The mountains are very welcoming. They don’t care who you are or where you are from. They will take care of you and provide for you.

Table Of Contents

The Silence
Living in the mountains can be monotonous
Also, monotony can be exciting
- There is a lot you can learn in the mountains.
Become a Backpacker

Waking up every morning, with the talking of the birds. You will never need another alarm again. They keep chit-chatting, making plans for the day, scolding, fighting like siblings, and waking you up in he process. They are just really fun to listen to. There never was a day when I wasn’t smiling before I even opened my eyes. That was all because of those birds in the mountains.

Now I don’t know the names of any of those birds, but what I do know is that they all sounded melodiously friendly. I could honestly make a really cool musical mix of them talking. Now that I think about it, I really should have recorded them.

Note to Self: Record as many sounds as you find interesting or are happy to listen to.

There is so much one can learn from nature. Everything that we do in the human world is anyways an imitation of nature in one way or the other.

I am a frequent visitor to the mountains. Sometimes, once a year and sometimes more. But I do keep visiting them. Surprisingly this time, they had a very unique effect on me.

Read more: Less known facts about Kaziranga.

The Silence

Before this, every time I went to visit them, it was on a vacation or a holiday. And, I knew exactly what I was going to do, where I was going to go, and when I was going to come back. Also, what was I going to do after I came back. But this time it was a little different.

The reason why I was living in the mountains is that I did not have a plan. I just booked a one-way ticket and didn’t think much. The whole time, when I would be sitting out, looking over the balcony, my brain would just go silent. I wouldn’t know how fast or slow the time was. Not even that it was passing with every second.

This state was highly unusual for me. There is a lot of time in hand here. A lot of space. And, a lot of silence. Makes mountains the perfect place to meditate, to let go and to just breathe. And, considering I did not have a plan, nowhere to be, nothing to think about, I just had that space at that time where my mind just distanced itself and went silent.

They offer you everything that a city cannot.

I live in the city. And, it’s constantly noisy. Houses are build too close that you know when people are flushing their toilets or cooking a meal. You can always hear them talking and even mumbling. Living in the city is very different than living in the mountains.

I like the ease of the city. Everything delivered to the doorstep. Everything just one call or an online order away. It’s simple. It makes you lazy. But the air is not as fresh. There is neither the sound of the flowing river, whistling trees or occasional cry of an elephant in the wild.

Living in the mountains can be monotonous

Cities are monotonous. Differently monotonous than the mountains. In the mountains, you live, but in the cities, you survive.

In cities you live the same life over and over again, every day. You party the same way every weekend. You crib about the same stuff, fight about the same stuff, long for the same stuff. And, by the time you get a chance to get out of the whirlpool, you get so comfortable being inside, that you would rather complain about it than leave and find something that you would really like to do.

This is when mountains come to the rescue.

Initially, it takes a while to adjust to the silence, especially if you are used to a noisy neighborhood. And the limited sources of entertainment eventually forces you to be in bed around 8:00-8:30 pm. And, you count every day. It is no doubt difficult. But difficult does not mean impossible. You just need to let go of the thing called control and constant comparison.

What was, isn’t. And, what is, might just start to grow on you. You only need to give it a chance.

Especially if you, like me, are from the city, chances are that you are used to a certain way of life. So you need to ease up, let go of your schedule, and be open to getting used to a different and mostly better way of life.

Also, monotony can be exciting

Remember when we were kids and there was no internet, no Netflix or Prime. How we used to wait for the weekends to watch our favorite cartoons? For those two movies that were aired every Sunday – afternoon and evening. Those monotonous weekends were exciting.

Waiting every day for the clock to strike 5 in the evening, so we could go out and play. So yeah, monotony is not all that bad. Just depends on what part of one’s life is being monotonous. Playing every day is always fun.

While I was there, living in the mountains, I noticed a few things that the mountains were teaching me in their own silent way. They didn’t talk to me, but they did teach me and even mentor me through some rough patches. It’s hard to explain or even elaborate. So, here are some of the things that mountains taught me.

There is a lot you can learn in the mountains.

To enjoy a simpler version of life
There is no one path to anything, you are free to choose your own path
Food is fuel. And nothing more. Eat right to stay right.
People here are not wild or cannibalistic. They are very warm, fun-loving and welcoming people, who are not afraid to laugh their lungs off!
Like there is our way of life, there is also their way of life.
People in the mountains are kind. Some are even ready to go out of their way to help a passerby.
Be with others how you want others to be with you. You want others to share their food with you, share your food with others first. You want people to offer you accommodation, you offer people accommodation first. Just call it Karma. What goes around, comes back 10x around. Being genuine is the key.
To be comfortable in your company
Loving nature
Having hobbies again and making time for them.
Being a close-knit community.

Just welcome the mountains with open arms and you will have a hell of a time living in the mountains. You too will start calling mountains your home. Now, I can try and explain every single one of the points I mentioned above, but I am not sure if it would be right. It would be like I tell you the important parts of a movie to convince you to go to a movie. You would already know what to expect.

Read more: How to travel on a budget?

Mountains are humble giants. Super sweet, super calm, super welcoming, and super friendly. There is no need to be intimated by them.

Don’t forget to share your favorite mountain travel story with us 🙂

So long!