Do you have a "sanctuary"?

My house up North has no phone service, no internet, and is as peaceful and quiet as can be imagined. When I go up there, it is like a long, deep, cleansing breath.

My husband has junked up our house so badly that I have no where to go. He is a pack rat. No, not as bad as on the tv shows like hoarders but bad enough. But we are divorcing and I have a nice apartment that I am not fully moved into yet. But that will be my sanctuary soon enough and I never will have to deal with the junk again.

The closest I have to a sanctuary is my “garret” up on the third floor. It has my book shelves on three walls, and my drawings and pictures and whatnot on the other walls. I just cleaned all the windows for the first time in decades, and suddenly I can see the trees outside. They are turning color, and beautiful. Now I need a new sofa—preferably leather, although my wife is not happy about that idea. I don’t understand why.

It’s not a man cave. It’s an aerie.

But it’s not a sanctuary. It’s the TV room. And as such, it is not a place where I can have privacy. I am subject to interruption at any moment. I can’t really close my door.

So I can’t recharge, really. The only place I can feel sanctuary is inside my own head. And, of course, I am there, all the time. I have learned the technique of being elsewhere while appearing to be with people. It’s not fair to people, and I feel guilty when I do it, but sometimes, I just have to.

I do, and I only found it last year. It’s called the ocean. Specifically when I go surfing. It’s just the most awesome feeling in the world when you paddle out and you’re sitting on your surfboard and listening to the waves, and enjoying the sun on your face, and just sit there for a long time. It’s such a refreshing feeling while I’m doing it and so rewarding when I come out of the water.

Every time I’m stressed or anything is bothering me, I immediately go out to the beach and just stay there for as long as I want.

My kayak. The feel of being on the water, immersed in plants and birds and wild beauty, is very restorative. The feel of my body working and being alive is part of this. I always feel more whole while in motion, for some reason. Another part is that being in a kayak with all my stuff for the trip is like having a little sliver of the world that’s just for me, with everything I need and nothing I don’t.

Water does it for me too. A river or a lake and a nice day and I’m happy.

I have a few. One sanctuary is sitting on the sofa or in bed wrapped up in my husband’s arms. That’s the time I am able to really relax and let go of everything else that is going on. I feel safe, secure, and know that things will get better and work out in time. Another is going for a ride alone on a back country road. It’s nice when there are no other cars on the road (or at least very few others). I can just drive and drive and let everything else melt away. Another is getting lost in a good book. I can read for hours and hours and feel full of energy when I’m done. It’s a great break from whatever is going on in my life at the time.

Yes,I live on 5 acres in the hills. It’s always a joy to come home, be home. Lots of peace and privacy and nature. I love being completely alone here, it’s a daily retreat.

Yes, I have a lovely bedroom, filled with candles and burners, to burn essential oils. I close my curtains and have recently found a lovely three hour video, that shows the most gorgeous scenery. I doze off while watching it.

I have my car. I take her for drives in the country, put the top down if weather permits, and look for twisty curvy roads. It takes my mind off everything but driving and getting the right lines.

I keep a blanket and pillow in my car. Sometimes I will drive somewhere nice, park under a tree, open the windows, put on some jazz, and nap.

I live in one…my house and twenty acres, surrounded by dozens of wooded acres of my neighbors. I have a SW view of sunsets, beautiful clear astronomical seeing, a small stream that plashes nicely, wild ferns, dogtooth violets, trillium, thousands of daffodil bulbs in the spring, red-tailed hawks, barred owls, foxes,deer, rabbits, and the sounds of silence most of the time.

Movie house.

At this moment I am finishing up a four-day weekend in a beautiful sanctuary called Daufuskie Island. It is off the southern-most coast of South Carolina between Hilton Head and Tybee Island in Georgia. It is only accessible by boat. No bridges from the mainland. Transportation around the island is by golf cart. It is approximately 5 miles by 2.5 miles wide and sits about 2.5 miles off the Carolina coast. It is a wonderfully unspoiled piece of island that houses nothing but a few (2) exclusive resorts, golf courses, an equestrian center for horseback riding on the beaches, and the ocean. No shopping centers, no grocery stores, no nothing. If you want something, bring it over with you. The locals shop on the mainland about twice a month. I’m not sure I could LIVE here, but oh, Lord, it is such a fabulous place to visit and eat, and drink, and hang at the tiki bar and gossip and laugh and tell stories with the girlfriends. It is sanctuary in the purest sense of the word.

Far out in the woods or mountains where no matter which direction you look, no cell towers. I ignore the 20mm strafe runs easy enough.

I used to. I lost. I need a new one.

We have a couple local libraries that I have a special place where I go to read. If I try to read at home, my mind keeps reminding me that I ought to be washing this or sorting that and I’m easily distracted,

Sleep.

My bed covered with a thick down duvet that I pull right up under my nose is my sanctuary. I can curl up under there and forget the world.

I don’t really have a job and I live in my moms backyard and I am generally left alone. I can freelance enough to not worry about money. I guess where I spend most of my day is my sanctuary. I can sleep when I am tired and don’t use an alarm clock.

*not having a car or kids helps.

Music’s what I need to keep my sanity. It can be my sanctuary anywhere. My mind is so auditory-oriented that I have hundreds of songs just recorded in my brain.

Physically, it would be my dark bedroom with the shades drawn and a dim light to read by.

I have a spot at work between the vending machine and the wall; I’m rarely disturbed there, and I can’t hear that thrice-accursed TV in the next room over the drone of the refrigerator.
There’s also my hunting spot, which is half a mile from the trail that branches off of a fire road out in the middle of the woods, but I can’t get there very easily. It’s relaxing when I do, though.

When I was married and my son was young, the car – my commute to and from work – was my sanctuary. I could listen to nothing or anything I felt like, and there was no one demanding my attention.

When I’m depressed, being in nature and breathing fresh air definitely helps. I like being in or near water or the woods.

When I’m not feeling well – especially if a migraine hits – I have the booth at work, where I perform hearing tests. My bedroom can be made quite dark, and I have a sound app that I play at night (with the sound of a brook in a wooded area) to mask my tinnitus and other ambient noises.

But nowadays, my life is a sanctuary… I have minimized stress and drama, so I rarely need to “escape” anymore.

Jogging is my sanctuary.

My bedroom with the door shut and the shades down, and outside running or hiking. No stupid chatter!

@gailcalled Your home is heaven :)