RomantiCurious

Who knew you could enjoy a zen moment by fish watching at the mall? I certainly didn’t know I would enjoy it. We just wanted to unwind by enjoying a new environment away from our homes. Working from home usually makes me feel too lazy to even venture outside on most days. But some days, I feel that I need to do it for my mental, emotional and social health.

So I called up a friend to meet-up, enjoy a meal together, catch up on each other’s lives, and get ourselves some light exercise from strolling through the mall. We planned to do some window shopping too and of course, we know we will do some actual shopping as well.

This is our usual routine when visiting the mall. We wish there was a park where we could go for free to decompress from our usual work-from-home environments but the mall is the closest place for that. We didn’t expect to see some fish though and that totally made our day.

First, we knew there was a small park in one of the malls with a pond. We didn’t think much of it though. We knew there would be fish but we didn’t expect that watching them would be enjoyable, and even calming.

Just following the fish going to different parts of the pond, as a group, or by themselves, was quite relaxing. We continued chatting as we watch them. Then we started noticing individual koi as they broke away from the group and went to separates parts of the pond. Eventually, they ended up joining the group again.

We often think of domestic pets as having their own personalities and character. Well, we ended up having a favorite koi and talking about each one’s personality. My favorite was the big, bright orange one. Based on their movements and interactions with other fish, we made up their conversations and thoughts, and scenarios that we know the fish aren’t even aware of.

Is this what happens when you’re too relaxed and have nothing to do? You end up imagining a whole new Universe in your head. I guess this is what happens with overthinking too. But this time, we were imagining about pleasant ‘fish scenarios’ instead of worrying about negative situations.

It helps that the whole area had large, soft lights that gave it a warm and cozy atmosphere. It’s like you don’t want to break the atmosphere of quiet and coziness even with the background noise of people conversing and kids playing. But everything felt soft and relaxing.

Soft music from some of the surrounding restaurants also spilled into the area but they were not annoying to the senses. They just sounded warm and festive. It gave the feeling of being in your home garden and you hear the sound of people enjoying the festivities from your dining room.

The sky that night was nice to watch too. The crescent moon was bright and unobstructed from view and was even accompanied by a bright star. We seldom see a clear sky with stars in the city. But sights like these, remind me of home in the province, where the skies are clear and not covered by smog and nature greets you as soon as you step out your front door. Nights like these are rare, which makes me feel even more grateful that I was able to experience such a moment in city life.