ESCAPE THE ORDINARY

If I had a favourite word then it would probably be 'escape'. Because it's something I do regularly in my head. Being an adult, with a mortgage, a child and a deep and meaningful subscription to Netflix, escape in the literal sense is no longer an option. I can't take off to Australia for a year like I did when I was 17. I can't spend an entire summer backpacking around Europe in the manner I did at 21 and  I can't quit my job and disappear to LA the way I did at 26.

And so now I escape in other ways. I plan my next road trip, I pin pictures of castles to Pinterest and I book nights away in sleepy Scottish villages. I carry a notebook in my head and I write down all of my thoughts before they disappear. I scrawl notes in the literal sense in the diary I carry in my bag. Often I look back on them with no recollection of their meaning. I guess they must have meant something at the time.

I saw a quote once that said;

Displace the pain. Put it in a camera, a story, a poem, a song, a lover, a canvass.

And I suppose that is what I do. I take pretty pictures to soothe my soul. I write this blog because I find it a cathartic sense of release. I cook like it's a form of therapy and instead of just enjoying the music, I spend hours decoding undecipherable lyrics to all of my favourite songs.  Whether I'm at the top of the world or in the depths of despair, I am always planning my next escape, always looking forward to my next road trip. I get a kick out of lochs that I haven't discovered yet. I'm at my happiest playing pool in some run down pub in the Highlands or sipping whisky post meal next to a hotel coal fire. I get excited looking for new bothies, bridges or buildings I can explore.

Growing up, I never considered myself creative. My art teacher hated me (with good reason, I was terrible) and I'm not musical in any way, shape or form (not that it stops me from belting out Swifty tunes in the car). It wasn't until I put pen to paper, until I started making up my own recipes or until I realised how much pleasure there was in sitting on your own by a loch, that I finally understood that the sarcastic, irreverent, cheeky caricature I had built up of myself might actually have a creative bone in her body, after all.  I've been told I think too much so often that I now have a pre-disposed answer back for anyone that mentions it....

"You think too much" - "You drive too fast"

"You think too much" - "You shouldn't smoke"

"You think too much" - "You don't think enough".

Me? 

I have an answer for everything ;)

I think everyone has their own ways of navigating through life. For some people it's sport, for others it's discovering other countries. Some people write music, while others might paint. For me it's Scotland. And cooking. And writing down my thoughts. 

Drapetomania (n.) is classed as; an over-whelming urge to run away. I've spent my whole life feeling like I'm constantly fighting an intoxicating and constant desire to be where I'm not. To escape. To be anywhere but the spot in which I currently stand. And so I escape the ordinary as much as I can. Every weekend we explore new areas of Scotland we haven't seen before. I plan nights away like people plan their weekly shop and then I come home and I write about it all before I forget. Before the memory goes away.

It's fair to say I find therapy in cooking, I find therapy in writing and I find therapy in adventure. During a break up you will find me throwing myself into my next road trip more than I will ever throw myself into Tinder. Following a painful experience I usually write about it. And if I have had a bad day or an argument with a boyfriend then you can bet your ass that night you will find me in the kitchen.

I don't think the things we do are random. I think we find these things to survive. To heal and to keep us excited. I think they are our calling.

So if you haven't already, then might I suggest you find something you're passionate about?

And then do it. 

With all of your might.  X