Where is your escape?

All of the many phases of my life have all been "similar" in that I always have some kind of escape that I selfishly keep to myself.

The highschool years... it was gymnastics... I loved going... I felt so powerful... I enjoyed the ability to control the out of control. It was heaven actually for this control freak. I only wish I had done more of it, longer and at a younger age.

During the college years... it was the jobs I held. I worked every summer, every semester except my first year... I loved to work. It was my escape from SMU... where although I did find my niche... I completely didn't fit in.

After college it was yoga. I still love yoga but I feel like I ruined it by trying my hand at being an instructor. I took a lot of time and consideration to go into the certification program... and one month in... the requirements changed.... and so did my attitude. I felt like I coudln't "trust" my yoga people anymore. They didn't respect the fact that I signed up for something specific and they robbed me from that. Everything that I did, was never good enough. As much as I loved it, I hated every inch. So my escape enslaved me. I pushed too hard... and I got injured and my hip is still recovering. I haven't been to a yoga class in more than a year. I miss that escape every single day. But I have a hard time envisioning going back. At least to where I was. They preached acceptance of where you are in your yoga journey. Yet no one there respected the fact that I was a working mother with zero time and trying to get the certification done in my own time and way. Everything I did fell short. And so did my certification. I was about 40 hours short in finishing the 500 hour certification. And I"m terrified to go back. I"m not sure that I ever will. As much as I hate unfinished business, I hate going right back into a lions den when I know exactly what's in there. My birthday is April 7. And I might give myself a yoga class.

Since yoga... the escape has been trips to disney world. It's a literal escape. I was never one for vacations, but after starting my current job and working at the pace I've been working at, it's become a necessity to have vacations where I don't check email and I give my brain a break and my family my undivided attention for a week. I've never been that sort of person that needed that. I always used vacation time to catch up with family and always checked email and voicemail during vacations. It never bothered me.Over the holidays this year I miscalculated how much vacation time I had... and went over by one day. I figured it wasn't a big deal... and could borrow against vacation time. I ended up getting docked a day's pay for the extra vacation day I took. This was a little disheartening considering that during vacation I checked my email every day. So I learned my lesson the hard way. First lesson... was to know my math.... second lesson was that I should NEVER check email on vacation. Vacation is vacation and an escape. A much needed brain break from the work day. Take it, enjoy it and don't look back.

Our next escape is to Disney for my daughter's 4th birthday. Wow... the fastest 4 years of my life... seriously. And is it wrong that I'm already working on planing another trip to Disney for the fall. I"m working on the next escape. What's yours?

K