Well Spent

Rest is what lets you go back out.
 
 
Well Spent is what it looks like when an hour of retreat gives you more than it takes.
 
I made this on a small island on Lake Maggiore in the heat of summer, at the peak of the tourist season. It was busy and hot and very alive. Then I looked through some leaves into a dark, shaded area, and there was quiet. Nobody had noticed it. Dappled sun was coming through the canopy, and in the middle of it was a peacock with his head tucked behind his wing, asleep. I got low, down to his level. There was just enough light to catch the colour and texture of his feathers, and I left the background in complete shadow.
It's a bird known for display, and he'd opted out entirely. The noise of the island carried on beyond the leaves, and he had found a place nobody would think to look, a little burrow of his own. Heat like that spends you. He had invested the hour somewhere that would give it back. I stood there thinking about how rarely we allow ourselves that. A quiet place to return to is as worth exploring as the world outside. This is the print I live with. It hangs in my bedroom.
 
Well Spent is for the person who has been out in the noise for too long. Rest like this isn't an escape, and it isn't time lost. It's a reminder that rest is what makes it possible to show up again, and that you need both. Find your own pocket of quiet and honour it. Then go back out and give the world your best. An hour tucked away, and spent well, is an hour you carry out with you. There's nothing wrong with wanting both.