Lost Somewhere b/w Burnout & Hope, I Let Ireland’s Empty Roads Bring Me Back to Life
My plan wasn’t for Ireland to save me and when I booked the trip I wasn’t planning for anything much. However my days had rapidly collapsed into a blue of sleepless nights and deadlines and the word holiday basically felt like an unknown language. Burnout doesn’t come at once but it creeps in quietly until the joy in things you once loved is completely replaced by a dull hum of exhaustion.
After I landed in Dublin, the city’s grey drizzle matched my mood, and there was just something unique about the air—damp, cool, with a scent of earth and salt—that hinted at endless possibilities. I decided to look into motorhome hire in Dublin, eventually picking up a small motor home, thinking I might spend a few days driving just to clear my head. However, I had no set route, no ticking clock—only the open road and the quiet hum of the engine.
The Road Out of Myself
It didn’t take long for Dublin’s bustle to fade into the gentle roll of green hills. The Ireland’s Empty Roads narrowed and curved like whispered secrets lined with stone walls that looked many centuries old. I could see sheep grazing lazily in fields that seamed to stretch forever unbothered by the slow crawl of the clouds overhead.
Initially I drove just to drive to no where in particular but just to enjoy the movement. However somewhere along the coast with the Atlantic stretching out like an endless promise I realized that I was breathing differently and this wasn’t the shallow distracted breaths of my life back home but the deep steady ones.
The rhythm of Ireland’s landscape began to sync with my own rhythm, and rain tapped on the roof like an old friend checking in, while bursts of sun lit the grass in impossible shades of green. Villages appeared like little exhalations — a pub here, a bakery there — each one offering a glimpse into the slower side of life and the many travel options for those who wish to wander without hurry.
Nights Under a Different Kind of Silence
On one faithful evening I parked by a quiet lake in County Galway and the water mirrored the soft pink of the sunset broken only by the occasional ripple from a fish beneath. I cooked something simple which was pasta, garlic and olive oil and ate with the door open and the cool air wrapping around me.
There’s something special about the kind of silence in rural Ireland. It isn’t empty but it is full of soft things. The rustle of grass and the faint call of a distant bird and the slow lap of water on stone. This is the kind of quiet that invites you back into yourself.
If you are looking for the freedom to find places like that, you should consider companies like Just Go because they offer motorhome hire Dublin options that allow you to travel, go at your own pace, and carry your home with you wherever you go.
Finding the Edges of Hope Again on Ireland’s Empty Roads
Days passed without me noticing and each one came with small and perfect moments that I will always remember. This includes the taste of fresh soda bread still warm from a bakery in Dingle, the thrill of spotting dolphins off the coast near Cork and the comfort of a stranger’s smile in a village petrol station.
Basically Ireland didn’t fix me but it provided a space for me to breath, to notice, to be still and to move at the same time. It also reminded me that hope isn’t a sudden dramatic return but it is a slow gentle reentry into the world one step at a time.
