As the pandemic continues to drag its feet, we have had a resurgence of cabin fever. All we have been talking about is getting away. When can we get away and how can we get away.
Last week my husband and I got away, just for a few hours. It was a cold winter day, but the sun was shining gloriously in a perfect blue sky. We went to the Lake St Claire MetroPark, about a 40 minute drive from our house. There was snow covering all of the trails and sheets of thick ice lining the edge of the large sparkling lake. In one direction, as far as the eye could see, there was only snow, ice and water.
It was breathtaking.
We took a selfie picture there and after looking at the picture, I commented to my husband that it appears as if we are in Antarctica! It was truly a wide open winter wonder with no sign of civilization to be found, except for us, of course:)
There is something about the open unchartered pathways that makes my heart beat a little stronger, and my breathing go a little deeper. I feel my very lungs, heart and mind truly expand with the vista.
This reminds me of the poem we once read in school, “The Road Not taken,” by Robert Frost.
As I look back on my life until now, I realize that I have always been and continue to be pulled to the unpaved road. Why? I wasn’t really sure until I was talking it through with my husband the other night. There is something about taking your footsteps down a road where no one (or at least no one you know, or it seems as if no one, or no one in a really long time…) has ever taken before. There is an opportunity to create it and make it your own. To truly own your own path, that is what I seek.
Once I have carved my way, I find the structure of a path super helpful. But that starting point always looks more exciting when it is mine to chisel out.
When we talk about a getaway, what are you looking for?
I am sure for some it is to escape the everyday. Whether it is your unmoving four walls or the monotony of your daily routines and responsibilities.
For me, I think it is all of those things too, however, with an add on. I don’t always want to get away to escape. Sometimes I want to get away, to find.
What am I looking to find? I am not always sure. Sometimes, I crave solitude in order to think and create or recreate myself and find my grounding again.
I think it is easy to lose focus when we are busy with our daily lives and so many work and life demands and responsibilities. I think that for me, getting away is not an escape, but a reprioritization of what is important and meaningful to me. Sometimes it is just to spend time with my husband because he is a priority for me. Sometimes it is a family vacation because they are a priority and sometimes it is just me, alone, sitting on the top of a virtual mountain or solo kayaking in the center of a large lake or river. It is where I can clear my head and find myself once again.
For some, the road less traveled is a scary place filled with danger and the unknown. I know I can do without the danger, but the unknown? I think part of me craves it, while part of me simultaneously abhors it.
But in that quiet space without the noise of everyday life, my soul soars to greater heights. It gives me new perspective and strength in my visions and dreams for the future. It reminds me of what I am doing here and why.
During this pandemic, I miss many things. I miss seeing extended family for sure. But I also miss the travel and the escape, to clear the mind and soul, to find room for expansion in my head and heart.
Somehow, some way, we must continue to get away, even for a few hours a week, to reconnect with each other and with ourselves. Not to escape, but to find. What might you find?