In light of the recent tragic events that are happening all over the place, including, but not limited to our backyard, it got me thinking about something I did about a year ago, which is join Instagram. I am not on Instagram to be social. The only person I follow is my wife and I promise that I won’t follow you as well. I’ve only posted a few photos, but generally speaking, Instagram is there for me to escape from what all of the bad things about social media. Generally speaking, I follow just about every U.S. national park and general outdoor accounts, BBQ, beer and I follow Texas Tech and Texas Tech Athletics.
No social commentary. No bad things. No hateful words. No arguing. No hot taeks.
Just lots of beautiful pictures.
And this should go without saying, but my real moment of zen is my family, probably like a lot of you. Where my kids are playing on a $15 slip-and-slide and I’m sitting next to my wife in the shade drinking a beer and reading a book in-between moments when the kids want me to watch them zip across some cheap piece of plastic that brings them all sorts of joy. That’s the real moment of zen.
Or maybe for someone else, it’s hiking with your dog for 60 days. I promise you this is worth your time. I welled up watching this as did my wife, not because it’s sad, because it’s not sad at all, but because it’s just good. As the narrator says, you give your dog a part of your life, but your dog (or cat for that matter) gives you their entire life.
But I fully admit that I’m online quite a bit and when I want to escape those moments where the world is just too much and I don’t need everyone’s opinion and commentary about the “things” that are happening, I close Twitter and just look at some beautiful things.
So, what do you do to escape from the moment? What’s your moment of zen?