So I sit here, writing this in a room two and a half hours away from home. In a town I visit every weekend that I am able. Some shake their heads and call me crazy, that I would travel this distance every weekend, especially with the gas prices being as high as they are at the pump. But to me, the cost is low for what I am paying for. You see, I have found my happy place.

It is a place we all seek. That place where our troubles seem far away and inconsequential, where the stress and fatigue of our daily lives melts away, and where the constant demanding voices fade into the distance until naught but a pale reminder remains. It is a place where we can let go, sink in, and relax, even for a brief moment.

We don’t always have to travel to find our happy place. Indeed, it can often be found in a favorite chair, where you can indulge in a brief respite from a hectic schedule with a new book waiting to spark the senses, or a glass of whatever soothes you and something to write with to release the words which have been building inside you. Our happy places can exist in many places, should we choose to look for them, and allow ourselves to let ourselves release a part of ourselves from the daily grind.

Some of our lives are a whirlwind of chaos, dashing from one moment to the next with schedules packed tightly with work, school, and family. We must find those spare moments, forcing them upon ourselves even when we don’t think we have the time. Finding that place can freshen our spirits for whatever we face moving forward.

Wherever you find your happy place, please visit it as often as you can, whether it be curled up in a favorite chair with a blanket and a cat who hogs both, spending time with friends who make you laugh, or on a small piece of land where wolves, bison, coyotes, and foxes call home.

Please find your happy places and enjoy the moments as they come. Be well, my friends.