Where do you go to escape?
Sometimes, reality can be too daunting. If you are not scared right now, you probably don’t realize what is really going on. Sometimes, all we need is to escape, and where do you go to escape?
Where do you go when you can’t go anywhere?
I rely on words. I write my thoughts and feelings away, but I also consume them — pages, and pages of words that take me away from reality. I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t count on it to escape.
Maybe because of what is going on in the world at the present moment or maybe because this was meant to happen now regardless of quarantine, I’ve started writing more these past couple of weeks. Along with this habit, came the idea to read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.
I’ve barely started, but I’m already in love with the idea of the morning pages. The concept is simple: handwriting three pages every morning, first thing after waking up. This is meant to clear our heads.
You see, I’ve never been one to keep a journal. I know, it’s surprising, considering that I’ve grown to become a writer. But the idea of writing daily about my thoughts always seemed odd to me. What would I have to write about every single day?
Little young Gabriela would be astonished now. Every day when I wake up, I get my little tiffany-blue notebook and head to the balcony, where I strategically placed a mattress where the sun hits in the early hours of the morning. I fill up three pages without noticing, laying on the blank sheets of paper all my worries, thoughts, and feelings. It’s liberating. I like to kick my day off escaping reality this way.
But I also love to spend an entire day detached from the real world as I read a novel. I immerse in every sentence, every plot twist, every heart-pounding moment. I suffer and swoon with the world the unfolds in my mind as I read the story on the pages.
I’m not a fast reader, but sometimes I can get so involved in the story, that I don’t notice the hours going by until I’ve read the very last page of the book. That’s how my Sunday has been going so far. I’m just a few pages short of finishing Not So Nice Guy, and I had to force myself to take a break and come write this piece.
Escaping reality might be a coping mechanism. It might be a survival tool. Perhaps, it means some denial. To me, it is a necessity. And I’m glad I found my escape in the words, those I write and those I read. What about you? Where do you go to escape?
