Finding Time to Relax

The house sounded like a war was occurring inside of it. The crack of pots and pans being washed sounded like a gun turret going off. The dogs howling and screaming at each was like two warring officers in the heat of battle. The TV was glaring its sound, like the howl of propaganda across the airwaves. In the neighboring room, the sound of a vacuum endlessly sucking away dirt particles, yelled with the fury of a banshee. Meanwhile, I was sitting in the living room, trying to concentrate on the pile of homework yelling at me to get it done. With a war going on just on the other side of the door, I realized that trying to get any work done was nothing short of futile. I could feel the pressure, and stress of the workload fall upon my shoulders. I needed to leave this battle zone and find a calm place all to my own, a place free from sound, or worries.
The sun was already regressing to the other side of the horizon, but it was not yet dark. The walk to the front door seemed like a thousand miles. I almost felt as if I needed to army crawl to stay safe from the ensuing chaos occurring inside of the house. Slowly I creeped out the front door and just began to walk; to where I was going, I had no idea. I continued to walk for what seemed like ages until I came across a giant open field. The lush green grass extended for as far as my eyes could see. This was the perfect place. I strolled for a long time into this enormous field, until I found a nice place to lie down.
A cool breeze blew, making the warm air disappear. In the sky clouds like cotton balls, floated peacefully in the air. The bright blue sky, began to turn blazingly orange, as the sun set even further. I heard the quiet chirp of birds as they soared gracefully through the air, only to settle in the lush leaves of the enormous trees. The massive trees almost formed a sort of rainforest like canopy that shielded some of the heat. The leaves rustled in the wind. The long grass, in much need of a trim, felt like a bed beneath me. I could feel any previous tension slowly slide away like water off of a slide. I had reached my own little nirvana, a place of peaceful solitude. For the first time in a while, my mind was as empty as a cardboard box. Nothing was on my mind. No thoughts of the ton of homework lying on my desk or of the shrieking sounds coming out of my house. I was able to completely relaxed. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted, like a lost sailboat, to sleep.
All of a sudden I was awoken from my slumber by and earthquake. For all I knew the entire world began to rumble. The ground shook with the power of a freight train. I sat up and rubbed the crust off my eyes and assessed the situation. Day had turned to night. The moon was full and bright and took up the space where the sun had previously been. All was silent. The birds were no longer flying, but now asleep in the high perches of the trees. The cool breeze was now even cooler, but I was still warm in my bed of grass. After a few seconds the rumbling stopped, but to my dismay it started again. Bewildered as ever I tried to figure out the rumbling, but I soon realized that it was coming from my pocket. It was my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I reached in to take it out. The screen lit the sky like a flashlight. I picked it up and realized that it was my parents calling. They wondered where I had wondered off too, and I replied honestly by telling them that I did not know exactly where I was but that I would start to walk home. It took me a few minutes to break myself out of the Zen like trance I was in.
I slowly stood up and found my way out using only the light provided by the moon. The walk home seemed short, as I saw very few people along the way. I retraced my path, and soon found myself standing in front of the previous war zone. It seemed, though, that things had finally calmed down, an armistice had been reached. I opened the door to a quieter house. My parents had gone to sleep, and all the lights were off. I walked into the living room, to the desk where I had previously been sitting. I turned on the light and sat down to face the huge pile of homework that had been yelling at me earlier. Instead, all I saw was a harmless stack of papers. I realized that I should not let inanimate objects rule my life. All that sat in front of me were sliced dead trees with ink spilled on them. I turned off the light and walked upstairs to my bedroom, leaving my troubles downstairs.
As I lay down in my bed, I could not help but imagine that I was lying on a cushion of grass, watching the day go by. Watching the clouds hover ever so silently across the sky, and listening to the leaves gently rustle in the breeze. It was then that I realized the necessity of not becoming overwhelmed. Earlier in the day, I was beginning to let myself get too deep in stress and tension. Sometimes, a person just needs to let go a little, and take a nap, and enjoy the peaceful subtleties of nature.