We all have our own escape valves when we’re feeling tired or stressed or over-extended. On her terrific blog, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin talks about creating “an area of refuge,” by which she means a peaceful refuge for her thoughts. For her, it’s usually a library.
But you don’t actually need to go somewhere to find solace. My sister, an avid reader, once revealed that she when she gets stressed, she tends to re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. She does this every two years or so. Apparently, she finds it soothing.
Upon learning this, my first thought was: “That’s weird.” I’ve never been all that into fantasy literature, despite a son who once declared The Silmarillion to be his favorite book. (Not familiar with that one? Think of it as a sort of Middle Earth version of The Book of Matthew, Chapter One. You know, the one that reads “And Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob, etc. etc.” Except that in this case, it reads more like “Rian, daughter of Belegund, was the wife of Huor, son of Galdor…,” on and on for like 300 pages. The fun never stops…)
This week I’m over on Better After 50 talking about my own She Shed (of sorts)...
Photo by Onur Bahçıvancılar on Unsplash
