I love to travel. I can’t quite tell you what my favorite city is, (because there’s far too many to count), but I can tell you where I go to get back to myself…and that’s the desert.
Our lives are constantly filled with noise. The daily push and pull of demands from work, childcare, deadlines, family obligations, and daily tasks can overload us. There are days where the intake is so much that I feel like can’t take in a deep breath because my body and brain are in overload.
And when I get to that point, that is when I know I need to go back to the desert.
It’s probably in my blood as my mom grew up in Nevada, and I lived the majority of my childhood out west. A giant Saguaro cactus always makes me smile, and the rugged mountains always challenge me to hike them, (which one day I promise to do). I breathe easier in the desert, and that tightness in my chest and shortness of breath I felt before coming to the desert, quickly evaporates once I’m there.
Tucson, Arizona is a destination I’ve taken on an annual basis for the last fifteen years. The minute I walked outside of the airport and into the open air, I felt lighter, softer, and definitely warmer.
I stared at the mountains many times during my stay, reveling in their beauty. I walked a labyrinth to clear my mind and release any bad energy radiating throughout me. I ate delicious food, and had great margaritas. But mostly, what I do is just sit and be. I breathe. And I breathe intentionally.
Half-way through my last trip, I opened my laptop and started writing. A flood of ideas came pouring out of me and I had an outlook of the next five stories I want to write. Because that’s what the desert does—it unlocks creativity. By allowing myself to rid my mind and emotions of the noise and the clutter, I cleared a pathway to let myself get back to doing what I love the most—writing.
The desert might not be your ideal place to reset and unlock your creativity, but all of us have a place. Be it surrounded my cacti and mountains like me, or perhaps it’s a cozy cabin in a snow-filled forest, or a tropical island of white sands and aqua-blue beaches, or even a small corner of your living room with a comfy couch and warm blanket, finding your place to settle, breath, and release is crucial for all of us.
