Outlets

We all have our outlets. You know, the things you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to get away from everything – escape the stresses of everyday life. There’s typically that one thing that at some point in the day we just crave. Sometimes this can be an addiction and sometimes its a healthy escape. Its the one (or many) thing(s) that help us calm down, to catch our breath, and give us an objective point of view on our circumstances. Some people smoke, drink, use drugs, gamble, sleep around, or on the other side of things, exercise, read, write, go to therapy, meditate, etc. There are many ways of just “letting go” of all our cares.

Personally, I have a few forms of “letting go” – some healthy and some not so healthy (but who doesn’t right?). I have three favorite outlets: writing, reading, and climbing (and yes, these are my healthy ones… we won’t go into my not-so-healthy ones now).

I started climbing a few years ago with a few friends. The first time I placed my hands on the rock wall at the gym and tried hard to align my feet in a way that would assure balance and stability, I was terrified. I had never in my life relied on myself that much for safety, support, or strength. I can remember getting so frustrated when I wasn’t able to grab the next hold. But the second I did, and the second I finished the problem and made it to the top of the wall, I was addicted. I had never had such confidence in myself. If I could climb a wall, what else could I do? So I went on to the next problem that was a bit harder, and so on. Before I knew it, I was going everyday and couldn’t stop. There is something so releasing about climbing. When you are on the wall, thats all you can think about and concentrate on. You can’t be thinking, “Oh my gosh, I have so much to do,” or “I wonder what so-and-so is thinking,” or “I’m so mad at so-and-so,” or “I’m so stressed out because ____.” None of that comes to mind when  you’re hanging on the wall. If you do stop to think about any of that, you will fall, I assure you. So instead, you concentrate; you clear your head of all your worries and just climb. Afterwards, a calmness comes (along with the rush of energy) that gives you a strength. You walk out of the gym with your shoulders held high and feel like you can concur anything.

Two of my other favorite things are reading and writing. There’s something that is freeing about someone else’s words and also about seeing your own on paper. There is this beautiful clarity that comes. When reading, your mind is stripped from all its own thoughts and is replaced with someone else’s. When writing, there is a clearness that comes; before writing your emotions and thoughts can be foggy, but the second you are able to see them on paper, it reveals so much – bringing clarity.

Outlets reveal things to us that we didn’t recognize as obvious. They open doors into our soul that we may have never known were shut (and sometimes locked). To me, outlets are like lanterns. Its as if someone were standing inside my body and revealing things to me about myself that I had overlooked or hadn’t noticed before.

I haven’t climbed in a while and haven’t been very good about reading or writing for personal reasons. So I am deciding to make a promise to myself (and to you): I will climb (at the very least) once a week, start and finish at least one book each month, and write about it. My plan is to bring you on this journey with me. I will share book reviews (like I did in the previous post), personal lessons I’m learning through those books, and personal lessons I’m learning through other areas of life. All in all, my hope is to share what I find in the light of the lantern with you. I hope to encourage you in your own life journeys and to hopefully encourage you to start finding an outlet, so that you too can experience the things that are hidden inside of you.

What are your outlets? How do they help give you clarity? What kind of lessons have you learned and what qualities have you noticed about yourself through your outlet?