My Favorites: Day 1

My Favorite Way to Relax

I hear bubble baths and Yanni are pretty nice.

I was hesitant to accept this challenge in part because I feel like what I like and dislike can change from day to day or can change depending on how I'm feeling, so the answer might end up with a rambling explanation with no definitive answer.  Like to relax, I'll admit that my go to form of relaxing is turning on the television, but I almost always lose interest pretty quickly and get frustrated that nothing is on TV.  Commercials are my downfall as far as my attention span goes, and it usually isn't that the commercials are interrupting the program.  I get sucked into the commercial and start to grade them and think how they could be better, and then if I see one that I don't like, then I end up changing the channel. 

Similarly, for Christmas I got the last two seasons of the Superman-inspired Smallville on DVD so I've used that as a daily dose of relaxation after work.  We just finished them this weekend though, so I'm back to square one.

Reading is usually relaxing for me, and I always enjoy doing it, but I'm not sure I read enough to say it is my favorite way to relax.  I usually just read right before bed, but right now I'm reading a book about how Abraham Lincoln was actually a world-class vampire hunter, so it hasn't been too relaxing, or very good for my sleep either as I've woken up more than once dreaming about things that I don't want to be dreaming about.

Music is a good answer.  Driving with the radio on usually relaxes me and often times, I require the drive home from work to relax before getting home.  I love music that I can sing to and a lot of times my throat hurts from singing so loud to whatever's on the radio.  I believe, I have the voice of an angel.

But the answer that I keep getting back to is the great outdoors.  Simply being outside, particularly out in the wild frontier of nature is my favorite way to relax.  Those who know me might be surprised by that answer as I haven't been camping since I was a teenager and the same is almost true of hiking.  I'm also not all that excited about getting sweaty in general.  Just being outside is wonderful though and my favorite lunchtime location is the Lake Where I Eat Lunch Often.  If it weren't for that hour long break from the fluorescence of my little cubicle in front of a glowing computer screen, my work would be a lot more depressing, my days a lot more stressful, and my life a lot less wonderful.

At times I also like to lay on my back and listen to new age meditation CDs.