“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.” ― May Sarton
I’m writing this on the last day of our spring break. We had two weeks off, and for reasons that are a whole story in and of themselves, I couldn’t travel off island. So here I’ve been—all too aware of the last time I had so much time off of work and how I ended up in a not-so-awesome mental space. But this time was different—I made a very deliberate choice to engage in “conscious escapism”. Usually, escapism is a mechanism to avoid dealing with reality and the feelings associated with reality. Conscious escapism, in contrast, recognizes the feelings and emotions followed by temporary solace in your activities of choice. For me, that has meant that every day I’m still practicing mindfulness and meditation, but then I just sort of “checked out” for the majority of the day by watching telly or reading. I did spend some time working on projects for my return to PLU because I’ve missed that work and it nourishes me in a way that nothing here ...