Paradise

Every person has that one place where he or she can get away to. A place where one can just hang, chill, and get away from people and the daily trappings of life that tend to just overwhelm you. In some aspect, when you are at this particular place one can feel a sense of calm because it's a place that hopefully nobody really knows about. For you claimed it as your own and yet if there is any kind of disturbance, that peaceful harmony will absolutely be ruined. It can be somewhat like Superman's fortress of solitude, though it may not be a grand or spectacular place to look at, it's a place where you can simply gather your thoughts and drift off in your own little world nonetheless.

Oftentimes, one's fortress of solitude isn't located at a place where a person can physically go to. If you think about it, each of us have easy access and all you have to do is simply close your own eyes. A person can somewhat think outside the box as he or she creates from one's own imagination a place in which he or she can get away to. A proverbial happy place that you feel comfortable in and you can be absolutely content in exploring one's own past, present, and possibly the future without ever really going anywhere. For all the worries that he or she has are left at the front door, so to speak, and that do not disturb sign is placed on one's doorknob.

As kids, a place such as the playground or clubhouse was sort of, in a way, holy ground so to speak. Nobody could tell you what to do and you could push the limits of stupidity beyond its limits. For it was a way to let out one's own aggressions, if any. As you got older other places such as the mall, Wal-Mart, the movie theater, Starbucks, a certain restaurant or drinking establishment, and even one's own car were ways to take yourself out of the reality that has somewhat slapped you in the face into another reality that you can better control of. Let me ask you this question, when was the last time you basically had time by yourself, just relaxed and didn't think about what is happening around you?

Inevitably, it doesn't have to be a place, but rather a person that one can talk to about life's most difficult problems. It could be a friend, mentor, parent, grandparent, a potential or significant other, every person has someone different. It's that particular person who is considered the go to person for the answers that he or she is seeking. Yet, it's not so much talking but hanging with that person that is considered the best therapy you don't have to pay for. That one person will always be there for you whenever you need to talk and get things off your chest, but when you are good and ready. Each one of us knows a person like this and values the advice given, though we may not want to hear at times.

Jeffrey Kotter once said, ~There is convincing evidence that the search for solitude is not a luxury but a biological need. Just as humans possess a herding instinct that keeps us close to others most of the time, we also have a conflicting drive to seek out solitude. If the distance between ourselves and others becomes too great, we experience isolation and alienation, yet if the proximity to others becomes too close, we feel smothered and trapped.~ In retrospect, each of us need a balance of space and closeness when times of stress go to all of us. For when each of us go to that one place or to be with that one person, it can be a feeling that can be described with only one word...paradise.