Re-touching on this topic because having a conversation with a combat veteran made me realize that sometimes finding your space takes time but when you do find it you feel at peace. A lot of my year has been focused on re-centering myself and refocusing my energy on me. Things that aren’t meant for me won’t stay but those things that are will just stick around. I’ve dipped and dived into many hobbies to find out what can help me stay afloat, while not trying to drown at the same time. For me it has been writing my most recent book and playing airsoft.

When talking with this combat veteran he has done 3 back to back tours, was in the hospital and suffers from CPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) – click here. Don’t worry I had to research it up as well, as it is a different form of PTSD – click here. His escape is playing airsoft, which gives him that feel of being back on the front as an infantryman without the killing part of it. He does have additional hobbies but he has found his escape to disappear from the world and relax his mind.

For me, writing my last book has been my escape. I disconnected from people to get my head right and focus on what I wanted to write. Not everything makes it in the book but at the same time I am just venting on paper. Clearing my thoughts of that negative energy that would just bring me down. I was in an “I don’t know” space for a bit after my sister died and then recently after my dad died. Airsoft leveled me out and cleared my head by making me just have fun again. To just remind myself that life happens for a reason and we have to keep moving forward.

In the end we all need an escape to figure out who we are and what helps us cope with the things going on around us. Sometimes we do just need to disappear and get our mind right. What do you define as your escape?