Befriend boredom, because when befriended, it does not leave you empty

When you stop filling every gap with noise, your senses begin to sharpen. I started noticing things in the Yukon winter that I had walked past a hundred times. The way ravens communicate with an intelligence that feels almost personal. The specific blue of light on snow at four in the afternoon. The sound the trees make when they contract in extreme cold, a sharp crack like a small gunshot that…