Finding Beauty in Escaping

Sometimes, you stay at one place for far too long it starts to suffocate you. Suddenly, everything is just wrong. You become too restless, like there is a need to just drop the things you have to do, need to do, and usually do and just… go. Be free of the burden that is everyday life.

If that happens, listen to that nagging whisper in your head to escape because sometimes, that’s exactly what you need at the moment. Find that one thing you could use as a means to escape reality and the problems associated with it.

Escape for me usually meant a good book or if one isn’t handy, then I just do marathons of my favorite TV series. Why? Because they bring you to places you’ve never been before, they make you feel and experience things without being exactly there. Because they make you forget just for awhile all the things that have been stressing you out lately be it work, studies, family, social, or love life. Or you can empathize with them because you know exactly how they feel at the moment because you’ve been there or currently there. Or you can simply just be entertained and admire the wonder that is creativity and imagination.

But sometimes, there is that need to literally go or escape and for me, that meant traveling to places I’ve never been before or to places I’ve been that gave me some peace and quiet. You can call it anything you want. I call it soul cleansing because there comes a time when you simply have this urge to break away from everything. Suddenly, you feel like you don’t appreciate your surroundings and feel weary. That’s the time to escape. Be cleansed. To go to places you’ve wanted or dreamed of going. To places where you can relax, be a different person without having to be judged or to be over analyzed or to simply just escape the pressure, the expectations, and the problems you face everyday.

Traveling makes you see the beauty of life. It makes you realize that there is so much beauty out there that you can take in if you let it. Do it alone if you like or you can do it with friends, whichever suits you the best.

Just recently, my academics has taken its toll on me and I’ve been a bit upset and resentful over some things, which I don’t really want to elaborate right now. When opportunity in the form of my high school friends inviting me to a 3-day getaway in a place a thousand miles away came my way, well, I can’t find it in my heart to say no. By the way, that 3-day getaway turned into a week. I was really, really reluctant to go back and do my thesis.

Here are two photos taken from that trip.

Stay at a relaxing and peaceful resort.

Try snorkeling and swimming with the whalesharks. They’re really huge!

But always remember to go back because no matter how tempting it is to get away from the source of all your stress and problems, it will never be a permanent solution. Don’t forget that this escape is temporary, more of a pause button than a stop. When things are too much to handle, pause. Take a breather and then resume after awhile. When you return from that getaway, you’ll feel refreshed. Like you can take on the hurdles being thrown your way and the stress becomes more bearable because there’s something you can look back to. Something beautiful, something different from what you usually encounter.

Because sometimes, that’s what we need. When we start being less enthusiastic and less appreciative due to problems and stress, then we start complaining more about our current state than doing something to change it. That’s exactly the time to go out there and see the world in order to make you realize that there is still so much beauty waiting to be appreciated, discovered and experienced. 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign

It’s been awhile since the last time I’ve participated in the Weekly Photo Challenge. Well, for my “comeback”, here’s my take on this week’s theme. 🙂

A torn heart-shaped balloon I placed on a Physics book.

I once met this guy in Physics class (I was a sophomore in college) with whom I fell in love with and the feeling was foreign because that was the first time I fell in love (Oh such happiness! 😛 ). Later on, he broke my heart when we broke up and the feeling was foreign as well because that was the first time I felt that kind of pain (Geez, it really did hurt I’m telling you, lol).

Coincidentally, my roommate had this heart shaped balloon which she gave to me, however, it blew up. I had my Physics book beside me then so I had this crazy idea of taking this photo of the torn heart-shaped balloon on the Physics book as a symbol of how I had my heart beat and get broken because of that guy in Physics class. 😀

Fixing a broken heart by Kayaking in Lake Balinsasayao 😀

Of course, it’s either I cry in a hole for having my heart broken or get out there and have fun! Since there’s no point in crying over spilled milk, I decided to cry then clean the mess and do something else while moving on. Hence, I traveled alone and visited some of my high school friends who were studying in a different university in another city.

That was the first time I traveled alone for pleasure and sight seeing. My friends accompanied me to different tourist destinations in there place and I even tried kayaking for the first time in one of their famous lakes. The feeling of being able to do all of that was definitely foreign.

From that moment on, I told myself that even if I’m still in college, I’d travel as much as I can and learn to experience a lot of things foreign. 

So far, so gooood. \m/