Ally Wildflower

Escapism: Freedom or Flaw?

In the famous lyrics of the singer Raye, “I don’t wanna feel how I did last night,” I have certainly had my share of wanting to forget. Or, I guess more accurately, having strong desires to distract myself from what’s going on. Escapism. Do we all need relief from reality? I see so many of us, including myself, opting for so many things just to avoid facing certain realities or to simply delay dealing with certain circumstances. Why is it that we don’t want to feel? Are we scared of what will become of us if we act somewhat out of character? Or are we all just like me, hating confrontation and doing everything possible to distract ourselves from the present? As someone who advocates living in the present, I sure do a fantastic job of daydreaming my way out of it, putting on a movie to live another life for a while, or simply pretending I do not exist.

My main question, though—haha, as if I haven’t asked enough questions—is, can we really escape, or are we content with the little escapes we indulge in once in a while? Is it flaw? It takes me back to another line from Raye’s “Escapism” when she sang, “So, you’ll run, yeah, but you’ll never escape.” Do we ever truly escape? I guess I’ll answer myself here. I don’t think we do. I believe we can run as far as we want and use as many distractions as possible, but we will always remember. We will have the faint memories of what we want to escape or the stark truth of it. We will have to come back to the present to deal with whatever we don’t want to face eventually. Isn’t that what it’s about?

Well, these were just some thoughts on my mind today. It’s been a rough week, I must say, but here I am confronting some hard stuff for myself. I hope you’ll confront some hard stuff in your life as well.

love y’all dearly,

Ally

2 Responses

  1. There’s nothing to escape from if we are truly living in the present. Life happens and we happen with it. We should never withhold ourselves from a situation as the situation wouldn’t be what it is if we were not a part of it; therefore, that situation cannot and does not exist or go away without our action or inaction. Thank you for the thought provoking post, looking forward to more like it.

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