His personal or work life, itself, had not changed in the last 3 days and during his stay with us. His email inbox kept accumulating, the bank account was still there, and his business was still his business. So what was different?

A few weeks ago, a middle-aged man in his 40’s stopped by our office on his way home to Dallas after a quiet, 3-day, stay in one of our hotel rooms. Our check-out process doesn’t require you to stop by the office. In fact, to save you time and energy, we encourage our guests to leave their key in the room and turn the lights and heat/ac off. We don’t want to bother you with another responsibility (a trip to the office) during your transition back into the “real world.”

His stop at the office had me wondering if something had been wrong with his room or with his stay in general. He pulled up in his car, I greeted him outside and welcomed him inside. 

A month ago he had called with a request I remember clearly, “I’m looking at your website, it seems so peaceful. Can you provide me with a space for a few days with REAL peace and quiet? My life has become so hectic. I need to stop, think and reset for a moment. I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel and need to find a way off.” 

I suspected Lone Oak would be the perfect fit and got his room reserved.

My new friend and I sat down in our office that morning. He looked happy. Not the kind of “happy” you’d expect from someone that just won the lottery…the non-stop talking, laughing and jumping up and down. Rather, the kind of peace and contentment that stems from quality rest, limited distraction and time in a quiet space. An awareness that arrives when hurry and worry are eliminated, and a higher sense of personal security is achieved. It was gratifying to simply be in his presence.

He took a deep breath, leaned back in his chair and asked me a question, “If you could sum up in 3 words what you’re selling at Lone Oak, what would they be?”

I thought for a moment as I looked at the wood burning stove next to me. It creates a natural and calm “warmth” in our office. It’s the same stove I grew up warming myself next to after so many snowy and frigid pheasant hunts at my parent’s farm in Kansas. I heard the sound of the wood, oxygen and flames burning next to me. I looked around at the wooden furniture and “old-school” desks. The grandfather clock I made in high school sat against the wall and the 75 year old chandelier positioned exactly in the middle of the room hung from the ceiling. This particular, wooden chandelier had been hand-made decades earlier by our former facility director’s father. 

With the exception of the fire roaring inside the stove, the room was silent. The kind of “quiet” that can create awkwardness, especially when shared only between two adult men. Most men seem to get uncomfortable in silence. Perhaps they prefer busyness, loud television sets and other distractions so as to avoid any realization of areas they know they can, personally, improve. Though rewarding in the end, it can be difficult to listen to that inner voice tell us areas we may not be operating at our potential.

Many would have considered the room that morning, “too quiet.” Especially after considering the amount of noise and distraction we inadvertently absorb every day. 

I thought back to his question…what do we sell? It struck me at that moment how we serve others in the most foundational and fundamental way. I responded bluntly to his question, “Silence and Simplicity. That’s what we share…Silence and Simplicity.”

He smiled, looked up from the table and shared a quote that will stay with me forever. 

“A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.

Our end result is to experience your happiness and while we watch your worry melt away. We understand the world is full of challenges, but by placing yourself in a place of lesser distraction, somehow, humans find a path to a different perspective in the same situation. 

The same spaghetti-like existence can be viewed as an opportunity when given a moment to unravel. 

The simplicity and the silence allow the unraveling process to happen.

Here’s to accepting life from a different perspective.

Remain Encouraged,

Brian