Can you believe that Escape Lab is halfway over?! Kim and I are so overjoyed at your enthusiasm, openness, and support of one another. Thank you!
Also, another quick reminder to not let Adultitis trick you into feeling overwhelmed because you’re not “caught up.” Remember, the weekend is a chance to go back at the messages or projects you wanted to spend more time with. Pick and choose the spots that resonate with you. If it’s giving you Adultitis, you’re doing it wrong. :)
This is the last message of the week, and we wanted to bring up the idea of secret hideouts.
Superman has his Fortress of Solitude. Batman has the Batcave. For my wife, it’s the bathtub. My dad’s is his workshop. Mine is my studio. Or Barnes & Noble. Yours might look like a nature preserve, a scrapbooking nook, or a fishing boat.
Simply put, a secret hideout is a place you go to recharge, reflect, or just disappear for a little bit. It’s where you can refill your Kool-Aid. Wonder. Dream. Decompress.
Everyone needs a secret hideout. Especially if you want to do super things. Like be a great parent, spouse, friend, or you know, change the world.
So, what is YOUR secret hideout? What is the place for you where time flies AND stands still at the same time? Where you feel a little bit more YOU after spending any amount of time there?
Maintaining any semblance of life balance is a challenging, never-ending pursuit. But one very straightforward way to keep Adultitis at bay is to spend a little time in your secret hideout each week (if not each day.)
Consider yourself warned, however: Adultitis would love for you to believe that spending time in your secret hideout is an indulgence, making you feel selfish or guilty.
It’s not. It’s a necessity.
Superman is literally freaking Superman, and even he can’t fight crime every second of the day. Even Superman needs time to recharge. Forgive my bluntness, but you’re no Superman. (Neither am I.)
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spend at least 30 minutes this weekend in your secret hideout.
Share
Where is YOUR secret hideout? Share it below, and report back how your time spent there this weekend went!
My hideout is my bedroom. It has lavender walls and thin curtains with cloth flowers sewn on from the person who lived in there before we moved – very peaceful. I’ve taped a dozen or two of my drawings to the walls so it’s definitely got the feel of my place – somewhere to imagine and draw and write or just relax. I often go to my room and lock the door (it doesn’t latch all the way so the dog will immediately nose her way in if I don’t) to get some peace and quiet time. I won’t have a chance to go back until Sunday night when I fly back from out of town, but it’ll be nice, for sure. I made sure to clean up and make my bed before leaving so it’ll be real inviting when I get back. Just thinking about it makes me feel sleepy…zzz…
I like the Superman analogy – that’s a good way of remembering that we all need our hideout!
Thanks Kimberly! Sounds like you’ve got a pretty nice one!
My Secret Hideout is my jeep when one of my kids are with me. My best talks with my kids (they are not kids, they are 18 & 21 now) is in my vehicle on the way to town and back. When it is just me and one of them, we can talk like two best friends. They tell me things they would never tell their ‘mom’. We listen to music, dance in our seats, do the robot, anything to act goofy, and the whole world is shut off for that 20 minutes to town :) We have done this since they were itty bitty. love love love my ‘batcave’
Jeep owners unite! My son missed his nap today and fell asleep right as we turned on our road, so I took a jeep tour on a roundabout way home. Win-win!
How bad is it that my secret hideout is my office? I thank my lucky stars that I’m able to work from home, so my “superhero” costume varies from pajamas, to workout clothes, to jeans and normal grown-up work clothes. But, the beauty of my office is the sunshiny yellow/orange walls, the fireplace heater that I blast to 80 all year, my Grandpa’s framed artwork with an upside down owl proclaiming “Nobody’s Perfect,” my wall of daily motivations (Jason’s artwork!), my radio, TV, phones, computer and puppies sleeping by my side. Seriously, I never want to leave this place — my little slice of Hawaii!
What a blessing to not only LOVE your work, but also where you work! Sounds wonderful!! Good for you for creating such a fabulous corner of “Hawaii” right in your own home! YAY!
My secret hideout is usually sewing with friends at the local quilt shop or friend’s house, so the kids aren’t constantly dropping in. Like they keep dropping in tonight as I try to read today’s Escape Lab. My hideouts = woods, sewing nook (sound better then the master closet we converted to sewing area), bedroom, Jeep, daydreaming, reading. I like to escape!
Awesome examples, Wendy! How cool that you created a sewing nook. Keep escaping, sounds glorious!
My secret hideout really isn’t a secret hideout – it’s my home. I live alone, so whenever I need time for me for whatever reason, I just go home! I love having my own place and I can pick whichever room I want to based on my emotional state of mind and the activity or lack of activity I plan to do!
So wonderful! :)
This really hit home for me. I know Kim and Jason have spoken about being an introvert and needing to recharge and I relate to this. My job as a camp director is very people and especially kid focused and I love it! Best job in the world! #mustbenice I even live at camp and my work and home life are one mesh together. So having a place to recharge and a secret hideout is important to me! Mine is curling up in my hammock. It is a great little cave wether for a power nap or for reading an amazing book (a whole different type of a secret hideout).
Hammocks!!!! We don’t have one, but it’s on my bucket list. SUCH a cozy place to recharge! When we went on a 10 year anniversary trip to Key West, we learned about some neat hammock shops and I’ve been dreaming of them every since… hammockcompany.com and http://www.kwhammocks.com
http://www.hammockcompany.com
Jen – I was thinking that stories are one of my secret hideouts. I love to escape into a really cool fantasy or sci-fi world! Doing so from a cozy hammock only makes it better!!
LOVE the idea of books being secret hangouts! I hadn’t thought of it, but it’s a perfect example! (And provides so many options!)
I think I have two secret hideouts. One is my big soft chair where I curl up with books or knitting. The other is my piano. I can spend big chunks of time figuring out a piece of sheet music or playing through old favorites. When my grandson is here, he likes to play with me. Part of the time he spreads his fingers on top of mine and watches the movement, and then the rest of the time he happily bangs away. Perhaps someday, I’ll be able to pass along my secret hideout to him.
How cool is this? A secret hideout being an instrument! And escape! I LOVE this! So wonderful that you share this special talent with your grandson too. What are your favorite songs to play?
At the moment, in a dark quiet basement on a lumpy sleeping bag and a cot. Ahhhh! Escape from the insanity upstairs. I am participating in a 50 hour long trivia contest, The Great Midwest Trivia Contest 50th anniversary. Questions flying…people typing… Phones dialing…music playing…old friends catching up…new friends meeting…turkey soup on the stove and hohos in my belly…Cow bells clanging…people shouting answers…people guessing answers… And me…aaaaahhhhmmmm. Ohmmmmm . Ohmmm. Ok found my zen. I’m going back into the trenches!
WOW!!!! How was it? Sounds like a bucket list item! Cow bells??!!
Can a secret hideout be a state of consciousness? I think my hideout is naptime. When I nap, I spend a lot of time thinking…thinking about how to make a project work, or how I want the rest of the day to look. When I nap, I am alone…no one talking to me or touching me. Sometimes I pretend to nap so I don’t have to answer the phone, clean up the cat puke, or help my daughter with something “right this second.” At work, when the weather is warmer, I’ll go out to my car, open all the windows, recline the seat, and just close my eyes. I hear the birds, the kids on the playground, the golfers across the street, and I just soak up the warmth and the sun and just recharge.
If I can’t nap, due to time or location, my headphones and bag of crochet stuff work too. It takes longer to recharge this way, but it works in a pinch. Now if you will excuse me, it’s naptime :)
Naps rule!
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Me time in my Jewery room!!
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That’s awesome!
Wow…I see a lot of pliers!
For me its a coffee shop or anytime I’m alone and don’t have a set agenda of a place to be next. It can be in an airport, target, barnes and noble or by a tree at the park (not socializing with others).
There’s something about the smell of coffee shops. And books. The Starbucks cafes inside of Barnes & Noble are like secret hideout porn for me!
My secret hideout is known to my family as “Mom’s special place.” Admittedly, it worked best as a hideout when it was in our bedroom, but even out in our family room, the kids are pretty good about leaving giving me some quiet time when I’m in my chair. For me, downtime involves a good book, so when I’ve got a comfy chair and a place to put my glass of hot tea (a table my husband made as an anniversary present), I am a very happy camper. I spend at least 30 minutes a day in my hideout, and quite frankly, it makes a huge difference in my day.
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Nice view! Nice box!
My secret hideout is a small town in the Sims3 game. I have almost all the expansion packs and my husband recently got me a new laptop so I could load Sims3 and play it anywhere I want. I don’t play often, but I really like being able to make characters who can be anything – a witch, a CEO, a beach bum, etc. It is my escape from reality. I was out of town the past weekend on another escape – Christmas with my family in Indiana (about 4 hours away). It is an “event” and being with all of them was a best secret hideout! We all had to wear ugly sweaters for family photos…here is my small clan. Usually I am very serious and have a hard time participating in the silly/childish activities my sisters plan. This year, I embraced it and had a lot of fun!
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And the group of crazies!
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Lots of facial hair in this family. #mustbenice?
LOL! That must be our Italian side coming out. :-)
My hideout at home is my shower and my bed. To me, there is nothing as relaxing and refreshing as a long, hot shower; I crank the water as hot as I can stand, then I sit down in the tub and only focus on breathing…I tell my mind to be quiet, stop…sometimes I will say those words over and over as I can feel the stress leaving my body, and I pay attention to my posture…I focus on relaxing and listening to the water, as well as feeling every little drop hit my head/skin. It’s amazing how it helps me to calm. This is a way that I also relieve migraines: I will shower with the lights off. After a long stressful day, a shower before bed helps even more to relax and fall asleep fast…and with restful sleep, I wake feeling like it truly is a new slate in front of me that day, that I am more of “myself”. #mustbenice that I live in a developed country where clean water is available to me anytime I want it – for drinking, washing/cleansing, and in excess like this where I can cleanse my spirit as well.
So neat to know that sometimes the best secret hideouts are the simplest. I second your #mustbenice too!