Turn On to Tuning Out After Divorce

“Bragging may not bring happiness, but no man having caught a large fish goes home through an alley.”  ~Author Unknown

Okay, I’m going to brag and send a picture, too!  Just recently I went fishing for three days.  When I told my brother that my husband and I were going to a lake about an hour and a half away, my brother sent me a message saying simply, “Fishing  … a spiritual experience.”   And I so needed to get away.  I am passionate about Midlife Divorce Recovery and all of “my” RADiCAL women.  I usually get to my computer around 7:00 a.m. every day, and I’m often checking in for the last time around 10:00 p.m.  I have a passion for this. 

But sometimes I have to make myself get away from my computer and not look at my e-mail and not answer the phone.  I recently read in the Kansas City Star that a University of Kansas researcher is confirming what we all know.  “Ruth Ann Atchley, whose research is featured in this month’s Backpacker magazine, said the natural world appears to refresh the human mind, ‘offering refuge from the cacophony of all of this information that stimulate alarms, warnings and emergencies.’  Even just a few days deep in the wild away from technology’s modern marvels can stimulate creativity by about 50%.” 

We all know we need to “get away” from technology and schedules and pressure. For me, I almost have to get out of town to do that.  But making a trip to your city’s botanical garden or taking a walk out in the country or just making yourself “tune out” and sit out on the deck doing what you want for a few hours will help, too. When your days include the unbelievable stress of divorce, “tuning out” is necessary to keep from being overwhelmed.  Getting outside is a must.  Turning off all electronics is a must.  Carving out time where you have no deadlines is a must.  Just getting in the moment and listening to the birds and feeling the breeze and enjoying nature for a few hours can work miracles.  And if you happen to be fishing while you’re doing that and a big (huge!) bass takes your lure, it’s all that much sweeter!

Mark 1:16 “And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.”

P.S.  I’m really a trout fisherwoman who prefers those tiny little flies and fishing for trout in the high lakes of Wyoming, but I am learning to have fun bass fishing even though I still try to stay away from those lures that look like something from the bargain bin of the hardware store.  I caught every single fish on a lure that at least looks like something that could be real.