The Importance of Escape
It’s been a strange last year or so for all of us. We’ve had to adjust to the stripping away of many of the freedoms that we hold so dear in the name of fighting an enemy that we cannot see. The freedom that this writer has noticed lacking the most is the freedom to travel. I won’t be the only one. Business trips have had to be cancelled; honeymoons postponed. There are millions of others out there right now desperate to get on a plane going absolutely anywhere at this point. Why is that?
The main reason, I wager, is that exploration is, for us as a species, in our blood. Human beings have forever pushed beyond their boundaries into new, unexplored frontiers, because we can or, rather, we feel so strongly in our cores that we should. This, in the past, has been either for resource acquisition, conquest or simple curiosity. Either way, we HAVE to get out there.
That instinctual feeling carries over now, in the present day, in our need to travel and see new places and meet new people and that has been brought into sharp focus by the removal (or, at the very least, inhibition) of our ability to do so. Infinite Covid tests, isolation, masks etc. make the prospect of travel a far more daunting prospect than a pleasurable one, with many deciding that the process, altogether, might not be worth it after all.
It is, of course, almost always easier not to do something that to do it but, when it comes to travel, this period of being home-stuck has highlighted how important to our mental wellbeing a couple of weeks out of the months and months of the daily grind away can actually be. Cancun never called so loudly!
That relatively short amount of time is the perfect opportunity to reset and take stock of where you are in life. If you’re struggling with identity, then do what you need to do to “find yourself.” If you need a break, then kick back and relax by the pool with a margherita. Feeling daring? Go bungee jumping or swim with some sharks. The thing about travel is that it can take you anywhere and you can do almost anything. That’s where the magic lies!
It can come across as a very “first-world” problem, but it hits hard all the same. Man isn’t meant to be locked away, cowering in his or her home. We’re meant to be out there, exploring, engaging, unwinding, interacting. Have you been away during the time of the virus? If not, where’s your first ticket to when you get out again? Wherever it is, make it count!