#8 Go Somewhere New

There's a little thing that I like to call "travelsick." It's the feeling of being in one place too long, becoming so restless that you physically need to get out, leave, and go somewhere. Except for 90% of the time, you can't leave. You have work and obligations, it just isn't possible to run away. 

So at least once a year, find somewhere to go. Whether it's across the country or a town an hour away that you've never been to, go for it. I won't lie, sometimes it's weird because you're alone in this new place without a clue where to eat lunch or go for sight-seeing and usually drivers are crazy and unforgiving for the sudden lane changes because siri forgot to tell you that you would need to be in the right side of the left turn lane to make the change... It's crazy. But it's new and it isn't your everyday monotonous life that's driving you crazy. 

Partly, it's to prove to yourself that you can do it. To prove that you are more than your city, your job, your relationship. To prove that you are capable to doing something spontaneous and exciting.

Last Fall, student teaching was overwhelming me entirely and I had huge certification tests coming up for my teaching lisence... It was not a happy time, so I hopped in my car during Fall Break and drove two hours down to Tucson. I thought I had it all planned out, I could go to Kartchner Caverns, see some local artwork, do some thrift shopping, grab lunch at a cute little cafe on some street corner... Sounds like a perfect day right? Well, it turns out that it costs like $30 dollars to enter the Caverns, an ain't nobody go money for that, so that was a no go. The local artwork? A couple statues of Christ's life (the Last Supper, a Nativity scene, things like that). They were beautiful in their prime, I'm sure, but the city has not maintained them, consequently they were chipped all over the place with the occasional graffiti. Downtown Tucson turned out to be a VERY small area and if you took one step too far, then you ended up in an extremely ghetto neighborhood, where you felt required to look over your shoulder every 15 seconds (making thrift shopping not so fun). For some reason 1/2 of the downtown cafes were closed on Saturday and the ones that weren't closed at 4, so I was left in the dark for dinner. All in all, not a great trip. 

BUT I CAN SAY THAT I WENT.

And I took pictures, documented the trip, wrote in my journal.

Most importantly, I didn't think about my tests at all. And when I thought about student teaching, I was removed from the situation and therefore less keyed up about all the craziness. 

They can also be successful, though. 

A couple weeks ago, I took a road trip from Arizona aaaaaaaall the way to Minnesota for a convention. From a cute duck pond in Albuquerque, to the the adorable town of Tucumcari, and my brother's adorable family in Kansas, it was a great experience! I took plenty of audio books, put some movies on my phone to listen to, and voila, the perfect road trip. On my way back? Randomly decided to swing by my sister's family in Colorado, because why not?

Part of the joy was not having a set timeline. If I wanted to stay an extra day in Kansas, I could. If I wanted to head out a day early, no sweat. And it wasn't super expensive, either. Airbnb saved me $30 a night on housing, bringing a couple sandwiches with me and lots of breakfast options with me, I saved about $50 on food,  and a wonderful app called GasBuddy saved me $90 on food.

So do it. Go somewhere.

Make it the start of a new exciting life. 

#7 Go to a Concert

Concerts are a great place to enjoy a high quality of music in a non-social environment. “Nonsocial?” you say, “you’re surrounded by people, how could it be nonsocial?” Because everyone is so consumed by the music being made and their own reaction to it that they don’t have time to worry about you. AND it’s almost impossible to hold a conversation unless you know ASL, so it’s like blasting the music on your headphones except you have a reason to get dressed up, do your makeup, buy a ticket, and feel fancy. Granted I don’t get up and dance to the music or scream and yell with everyone else, but it’s nice to sit there and watch both the performers and listeners having the time of their life.

I guess it comes down to people watching. I think that if you observe someone displaying a strong enough emotion, it starts to rub off – like when you watch videos of soldiers coming home and hugging their family, you have to cry, it’s a rule! And likewise, when you watch so many people display such euphoria, you can’t help but feel a bit of it too. Even if it is only temporary.

Temporary is better than nothing.

So whether it’s an a Capella concert, rock, ballet, or the opera, buy a ticket, get all fancy, and go. Get out of the house and let the music—and the people around you—relieve the dark omnipresent pressure that surrounds you most other times.

# 6 Discover a new show

I had dinner with my best friend the other day and she could not stop talking about the new show that she found: Last Man Standing. We watched a couple episodes and lo and behold it was phenomenal! It's with Tim Allen and is seriously exactly like Home Improvement, but he has three daughters instead of three sons -- it's literally a brilliant concept and is just as hilarious as the original. 

I know it sounds lazy and unproductive, usually when we sit around and watch TV we think, "Well I guess that was a lazy day." And we beat ourselves up about it. We make ourselves feel awful for taking some time off and then sink ourselves deeper into our own little self-designed pit of misery.

Why is this an awful thing?

Sure if we sat in front of the TV all day, every day (like we do for a solid week during the summer) then it would be awful and some self-degradation might be called for. But we don't. Just like it would be terrible to eat nothing but ice cream or drink nothing but soda, it would be terrible to do nothing all day but watch TV. My point is: everything in moderation. 

Set some time for yourself to do something for yourself. Something that can help you unwind and relax after a day filled with the world's crap. TV is a harmless way to do that. One episode a night before bed is not going to kill you. Neither is turning it on during the weekend when you're cleaning you house. I promise you won't die as long as it isn't the only thing you do.

Stop putting yourself down for doing something for yourself.

Now find a TV show (I highly recommend Last Man Standing) and sit yourself down with a home cooked meal. Relax. Chill. Let yourself be lazy for 40 minutes.

It's okay.