Finding an Escape

Now that I have reached week three of the spring semester, I’ve come to the point where I begin to feel like I need to be reoriented again. Classes are starting up and the busyness is beginning to fill all my evenings and free time turns into twenty-minute nap time before my next obligation. Music, writing, and art can be a worthy escape, but when the weather jumped up to sixty degrees, the idea of a very real and physical escape teased my mind as I sat on my computer and stared at my assignments. Right after class, I hopped in my friend’s car and we took off to Cook-Out for a snack to carry us up the mountain to Bald Knob. I forgot about classes and obligations and all that yet stood ahead in the week and watched the hills and homes and cows pass as I rode up the curvy road.

Sometimes, for me, I need an escape that makes me step back and breathe to stave off being consumed by my collegiate everyday. Simply making a physical getaway allows me to do this and find a way to begin to recenter myself. Other times, I drown myself in music and allow others’ words to wash over my own thoughts. Through writing, I can use my words to pinpoint and unpack the conflicts in my mind.

Finding a way to untangle the mess of thoughts and emotions that come with the academic and social stresses of college as the weight of discovering your own identity combines with the pressures of making meaningful friendships and cultivating an ambition for the future. Sometimes the world that exists outside of the bubble of college life that is so easy to get trapped in provides the perfect remedy.