places

I saw the Maritimes for the first time last month. I was so far east, I was in a new time zone. I saw new landscapes, new provinces, new people. There comes a time on almost every road trip/vacation when I develop a powerful sense of place, becoming particularly aware of my current surroundings. I know then that I am somewhere else. Everything is different, everything is new, and I fall into a transcendent "wow, I am totally HERE doing THIS" moment that fuels my future wanderlust. Strolling down Crystal Crescent Beach in Nova Scotia early one afternoon, I was overcome by precisely this feeling. I was so there.

I don't think place defines us, but I do think these moments do. My life comes together when I travel. I leave behind routine and just live, strip out all the obligations and daily minutiae and just experience life for its own sake. Some say that the mundane little everyday nuances that seem to weigh us down actually define our lives, that they comprise the majority of what existence really is. While I won't undermine the importance of appreciating the little things, I don't exactly agree. Because when the rote, mechanical actions fall away, and all that is left is people and places, that is the real deal. There are no distractions. When I travel, everyday concerns are (usually) part of the background instead of the foreground. I don't have to be anything, I don't have to be anywhere; I can just be. There are so few requirements, so few expecations; I can just hang out and exist. Means with no ends. It's hard for most people to even think that way.

But what each person does with this open-ended time is closest to who he/she really is. Furthermore, the people we think about when the smoke clears and there are no distractions are those we truly care about. When we are forced to define ourselves instead of being defined by our surroundings, we are - arguably - more ourselves than ever.

And that is why escapism is my reality.