Getting Used To The Silence

It's day 186 of documenting 2025.

Happy Weekend from this little corner of the internet 💜

I hope your week went well, my friend ☺️ 

If it didn't, just remember one thing.

It could have been worse...but it wasn't.

Something to be grateful for.

We're hopping into Highlights as usual...and then we move to another fiction story.

Same character as last time.

PS. By last time, I mean the first fiction story I shared on this blog.

Read it here.

365 Days With Self-discipline 

📌 On Simple Rules 

"Simple rules are shortcut

strategies that save time and effort by focusing our attention and simplifying the way we process information. 

The rules aren’t universal — they’re

tailored to the particular situation and the person using them."

Quote by Donald Sull

Simple rules, huh? 🤔

Another new one...

In today’s world, we have too many choices to make. Many of those choices are trivial, but because we don’t want to miss out, we waste precious time deciding where we want to go for dinner, whether we want to drink blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, or blackberry juice, and then waste even more time choosing a meal we want to eat.

And that’s just one common situation in a sea of choices. 

Which brand of bread to eat? Which fitness regimen to follow? Where to go for a vacation? Which book to read? 

The choices are endless, and they’re all sucking energy that you could spend on something more constructive and useful.

Embrace some simple rules in your life to pare down your choices to the bare minimum.

What are your rules? 

Think of some common decisions you often have to make — including the important choices related to your goals — and think of simple rules you could establish to simplify your life and your decision-making process.

I'm gonna try this.

I established one rule some months back tho...

And I've followed it ever since.

I'll establish some other ones and abide by them as well.

Before I get into the story, do you believe I almost gave up writing this blog?

Long story short, I didn't realize that I posted only the picture on the blog....not the write-up.

The Blogger app I usually use to edit and format each post also started misbehaving.

I deleted the app, reinstalled and then I wasn't even able to log in.

Doubts arose in my mind 😨

Will I ever finish this blog journey?

Is this where it ends?

I won't publish anymore?

I decided to stop trying to log into the app and left it till this morning.

The thought was, "if it doesn't work by morning, I will know that I have to give it up".

This morning, I tried logging in.

It worked!

I was already giving up on the idea of continuing with this blog.

Not anymore.

This taught me an important lesson which is,

"Before you give up, try one more time.

And if it doesn't still work, try three more times....then you have the permission to quit."

Hmm 🤔 

This could be one of my rules.

Now, for the fiction story.

It's called, "The Quiet Place" featuring Ursula, the character from the first story.

(I smell a short story series coming along!)

Enjoy! 🙂

They called her a light.

A voice of reason. 

A soft but steady presence. People looked for her words when the world felt too loud; in captions, long-form posts, voice notes that made strangers feel seen. 

Ursula had become a pillar in her corner of the internet. 

Reliable. Grounded. Inspiring.

But she was tired.

Not from giving. She loved giving, but from never feeling allowed to pause. 

Her DMs were a cascade of “You always say what I need to hear”, “You’re the reason I didn’t give up”, or “I don’t know how you keep going.”

The truth? Neither did she.

Ursula had grown so used to pouring into others that she’d forgotten what silence felt like. 

And then, one day; just like that, she disappeared.

No goodbye post. No “see you soon.” No announcement.

She just... left.

No story updates. No tweets. No little green dot showing she was online. Nothing.

It wasn’t impulsive; though it looked that way. It was intentional. 

Ursula had been thinking about it for weeks. Maybe even months. The signs had been whispering. 

Her body was tense in moments meant for rest. Her creativity was dry in places it once overflowed. And most of all, she craved something she hadn’t admitted out loud:

A quiet space. 

A place where she wasn't needed. Where she could just be.

But as the days turned into weeks, guilt curled up beside her like an unwanted shadow.

You should’ve said something.

They’ll think you abandoned them.

What if someone needed you?

She checked her messages once; just once. It was a mistake. 

The outpouring of “Where are you?” and “Hope you’re okay” sent her spiraling. 

She wanted to reply to every single one, to apologize, to explain. But she knew that would pull her right back into the noise she’d escaped from.

So she closed the app and deleted it.

That night, she sat on the edge of her bed, heart pounding, eyes wet with confusion. 

Was this the right thing? she asked herself for the hundredth time.

And somewhere deep inside, the answer was still yes.

She walked to her small balcony, breathed in the night air, and looked out at the city lights. 

In the distance, everything was moving; fast, chaotic, electric. 

But here, in her silence, there was clarity. Peace. 

A seed of change beginning to sprout.

This wasn’t abandonment.

It was return...to herself.

To her thoughts. Her voice. Her softness.

Not curated for applause, not filtered for clarity.

Just Ursula; raw and whole and unfinished.

The world would move on. 

People would understand; or they wouldn’t. But what mattered most was that she understood. 

This isolation wasn’t exile. It was sanctuary.

A sacred, needed pause.

She didn’t know when she’d return. Maybe in six months. Maybe longer. Maybe never in the same way. But when she did, she wanted it to be from a place of wholeness; not obligation.

She whispered to the night sky, “I didn’t disappear. I’m just growing somewhere no one can see.”

And with that, Ursula finally allowed herself to rest.

🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿 

What do you think?

Do you understand what the story means?

I would love to hear from you on this...

Comment below if you can.

And that would be all for today's post.

I wish you a restful weekend.

Thanks so much for reading 🎀 

You can catch up on former posts from this blog by searching for "Documenting 2025" on Blogspot.

I'm Duon Ada.

I'm documenting 2025,

And I'll see you tomorrow.

Ciao 💕