Where do you go when you need to get away from it all? Before I suffered some knee problems, it used to be the golf course for me. Or the movie theaters (before I got sick of loud, obnoxious audience members that drove me home in front of my own TV!). And then, there’s always a good book.
Reading is a wonderful escape. It can transport us to other places in time and geographic location, and best of all, it can take our mind to concepts we may have never dreamed of but because of a really good author, we can see what we once thought was impossible or didn’t even know existed. I posed a related question the other day on Facebook and Twitter: what is the first book in which you can recall truly getting lost? You know, immersed in all of its yummy literary goodness. I was pleased to see some fun fantasy and sci-fi responses from most who replied — everything from The Hobbit, Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Never Ending Story. (Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply. I appreciate it! Mine is Journey to the Center of the Earth, by the way. Feel free to chime in below in the comments if you’d like!)
I find the greatest gift that any good book offers us is the opportunity to escape, and for most of us, it can be the daily stresses of our life. I’ve found myself getting especially stressed lately. It’s that time. Publishing time. But it’s also the last quarter of the year. Almost. And now is the time when we look back on the rest of the year, and think about all of those things we SAID we wanted to do and still haven’t. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all that there is left to do. We see three months ahead and it is filled with holidays and other people going on vacation physically or in some cases, just mentally. So if there are projects that may involve teams we’re not quite sure if we will get the support we need.
I feel your pain. I’m experiencing it right now, in fact. Each quarter, I work up a look ahead at the freelance client work, book writing and promotion goals and that personal “stuff” I want to accomplish during the next three months, and as I started to make up my list now, the first words out of my mouth were “Holy Moly!” Well, those weren’t the actual words but I’m making an effort to keep this blog PG-rated.
As you venture into your weekend after a long, hard day of work, I would imagine all you really want to do is kick back, pop open a fizzy beverage of your choice and forget about the rest of the year. And I can’t say that I blame you. And if that sounds like a completely impossible thing to do because you are just waaaaaaaay too busy, then I ask you to PLEEEEEEEEASE stop in your tracks just for a moment. Take a deeeeeeeep breath and exhale. And I want to encourage you to do one other thing this weekend and that is GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO… ESCAPE.
Maybe you will take to the golf course or check out the latest film feature. Or you might find the peace you need on a beach, in a park or stretched out on the couch in the den for a completely rare nap. Go for it! And if you really want to give your brain a treat, crack open a new adventure on the page or on your screen if you prefer literary fun of the electronic variety.
Sometimes the first place many of us cut from our schedule is leisure time. I’m regularly doing this and it doesn’t pay. Spending a little time allowing your brain to “catch its breath” or better yet, wander off somewhere far away that tempts our imagination and tickles our creativity can help us recharge. So don’t cut out that much-needed downtime.
In fact, I’m going to take my own advice right now and make a date with myself and a bottle of wine tonight, and return to completing the last book I started, oh, let’s see… about 2 months ago. I lost my way and shelved my own downtime but you know what? All of that changes today. So join me and let yourself escape, even for a little bit. You’ve earned it. ~ Chris x
Follow Chris!