Do you ever feel slightly bothered that something is missing in your life? Do you ever get trapped in your daily routine or often stressed with the amount of work your putting on your emotional and physical health? Does your "To Do List" seem like a never ending novel rather than a short list? Are you not enjoying yourself as much as you think you deserve to be? I think that for many of us who answered yes to any of those questions it is because we do not get enough time for ourselves.
This past weekend my mom flew in from California to visit me. This was her first time visiting and she was only here for 48 hours so I knew we had a lot to do in a short period of time. The two biggest things I wanted her to see were a football game and the college campus. When she arrived the first thing I did with her, after we picked up some food, was take her on a big loop around campus. We spent a couple of hours just exploring the campus and even eventually walked into the downtown part of our small college town.
Taking her around the campus that I walk through everyday, I thought was going to be very routine and boring but she wanted to explore parts of my campus that I had never thought about before. She pointed things out like the architecture of buildings, the contrast in the color of plants and how many different animals there were that I never paid any attention to. My mom made me aware of things that I would normally walk by without noticing.
Seeing her eyes light up with excitement when I showed her some of my favorite places on campus like our boathouse, the chapel and our football field were somewhat expected but what I found interesting was all the the things she found beauty in like the way the rain drops stayed on the leafs of the plants or how peaceful it was to sit in the eroded canoe sitting next to the lake. She even played with the fall leafs as if she was a young kid again.
As we were sitting at the edge of the boathouse she told me, "If I went to school here I would just come out here and think..." Sure enough her comment made me do just that. Why don't I venture out to places like this? I thought to myself, "I could definitely afford to take half an hour to come to a place like this and just think, or clear my mind, maybe if i'm lucky take a nap." Just as I start thinking about all of my favorite places I've explored on campus, I turned to the left and saw a girl on the other side of the dock, nuzzled up between two sailboats with her feet up on the boat, staring off into the distance. It was definitely a sign of sorts because I had never seen anyone by themselves at the dock and she wasn't doing anything so I assumed she had just been using the time to relax, think and clear her mind. I was immediately fascinated with who she was and if she came down here often.The way she was sitting blocked her face from where my mom and I were. I tried not to stare at her but I was intrigued with who this mystery dock girl was. I decided not to bother her because I assumed she wanted some peace and quiet. Thanks to my moms visit, she made me aware of my surroundings and I've made it more of a priority to set out, explore and find a place to escape the "real word." I strongly believe that everyone should have their own escape place so go out this week, make some time for yourself, find a quiet place, turn off your phone, and think about the things that have really been on your mind lately. Who knows maybe if you are lucky you will even find the mysterious dock girl.
