How often do we take a break from our lives? For myself and my husband, probably not enough. That’s likely true for many people. We took a trip this week, a mini vacation, and we’re already feeling recharged. Amazingly it’s our second one this year. It was prompted by my husband’s work trip but, since that was only one day, I was able to tag along and we‘re stretching it into a four day walk away from our day to day. We didn’t go very far but it’s still a place that’s full of complete unknowns.
I was expecting to relax and just enjoy once we got here but I find a strange thing is happening. My brain is on overdrive, completely stimulated by the novel circumstances I find myself in. It’s racing from one thing to another and trying to insert these experiences into my next writing project. I‘ve had to ask it to be quiet, but, I have to admit, it’s exciting.
I heard once (I think in a movie) that you should have enough experiences by the time you’re 18 to write for the rest of your life. I can see some validity in that statement but I think it’s unwise to have that kind of expectation out of life. It puts too much pressure on your young self and it negates the learning and living that happens as you age. My husband and I were just discussing the other day the pressures that today’s generation is under to figure out their lives by the time they enter high school and how much higher they have to reach just to have modest success and it made us feel sad that childhood is slipping out of existence. We got nostalgic for a time when life was slow and reflective, when you didn’t get the world news unless you sought it out on the tv or in the newspaper and that was only once a day. We thought back to a time when you meandered through school and figured out where your life was going as you tried on different subjects and found out how they tasted in your mouth before setting up the scene for the next twenty years. It was a slower time but there is much to be said for slowing down and looking around.
I slowed down and looked around, and after only a couple of days, I’m finding my creative juices are on overdrive. It’s unexpected, and I welcome it. Sometimes simple is best. We wandered into a restaurant last night without realizing how busy it was and we were extremely lucky to get a table and have an incredible meal. The experience was unexpectedly wonderful for many reasons and it only made me happier for this life where I get to continue to learn things, change my path and wander into new places when I’m 36 years past my 18th birthday. #authorlife #vacation #dining #beingreal #nostlgia #minivacation #gettingaway
