It takes time to adapt to new surroundings, especially when there are no familiar sounds around. Being surrounded by silence in a mighty nature is scary for someone like me. According to old Christian beliefs, silence is made in heaven and after one month in Halsa I tend to agree.
I was raised in a chaos of sounds from radio, TV, traffic, and other urban noises. I am used to talking a lot and the people around me do the same. Familiar noises create safety and it is easy to feel lonely and lost when you have to listen intently and the only thing you can hear is your own breath. It’s scary for me and I always lock the door when I’m alone.
Beauty often makes the fear fade away. I have experienced it myself one day I was alone in the cottage and saw some deers outside. I unlocked the door and went out to get a little closer. I was not scared at all, only fascinated by the beauty of grazing deers.
Some days later, the deers returned and my husband took some photos. He has now a little collection of nature images from Halsa which embraces the beauty of the silence I experienced there. I would love to show you some:
I still lock the door when I’m alone. But I understand more now how deep my longing for silence is and that “silence is golden.”