there is freedom without

"The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has" - Alan Ashley-Pitt

Yesterday seemed like a good time to catch up on some chores and errands so off I went. I wished I had stayed home as it would have been the better course of action. Instead, I spent about four hours fighting crowds to do what could have been completed in 45 minutes. I even skipped two of my stops because I had had enough and was starting to feel very pro nuclear war at that point. My calm easily gets damaged in or around crowds nowadays, but I know it's not a phobic issue. I can be ok in one if I have to, but prefer not to if there's no need. The day wasn't a complete loss since I still managed to get everything done that I needed to at home. Laundry, cleaning, rearranged my bedroom/closet, and even got rid of some more stuff. I even got around to doing a little digital house cleaning as well. 

Today was much more relaxed, and less crowded too! It'd been about three weeks since I relocated my trailer to a nicer storage site so now was a good time to look in on it. Everything was just as I'd left it and no tree gunk was on it. After I got back I took the beagle out for a nice four mile hike. I was thrilled we were finally getting out into nature again, but even more thrilled about just how close it was to home. It took me all of about 5 minutes to get there. The place is all kinds of gorgeous too! There are streams, cliffs, open fields, and heavily forested parts. The beagle had a smile on her face during the entire hike. 

This place is definitely now my go to place when I need to break away and get centered. This hike was really needed since I noticed that little things have been getting to me lately. I think the new schedule and shuttle commute are starting to take their toll on me. Being gone 11 hours a day for work Mon-Thurs is more than I'm used to. Granted this isn't hard physical work, but there isn't much to do on that shuttle except work. I'm gonna give this commute another week or two before I ask the boss about working locally more often.

So anyways after the hike I had a taco for lunch and a nice shower. The beagle had some kibble, a bath, and is now sawing logs on my bed. Life is good!