Catharsis

I’m currently sitting in O’Hare, waiting to board a flight back to Saint Louis after a week-long vacation.

Time cruised faster than I would have liked, not because I crave more time off but mostly because I adore Chicago too much. Leaving this city never gets easier. I plan to write more about the trip and share photos soon. I took more pictures in my first day being there than I have in my nearly two years spent in Missouri.

I had not taken any time off since December 2019 and even worked some holidays. The pandemic drained me like everyone else on the planet. Last year I thought taking time off would be silly without overnighting somewhere else, yet I knew I needed a vacation. This spring I was chomping at the bit to just . . . stop.

The week was more cathartic than I expected. I normally don’t check email on the weekend, though in the past I would still occasionally do so on vacation. This time I refused to do so. Not seeing work-related communication is different from ignoring it.

Fortunately I knew the area well as a former resident, so I experienced zero tourist anxiety. I love pretending I still live there, and this time I was more conscious to go analog. Sometimes I ditched music on public transit or while biking and walking along Lake Shore Drive. Unloading the brain feels good: who would have guessed?

I also recently started the long-winded process to wipe away my digital footprints on Facebook. Leaving Facebook and Instagram is long overdue but better late than never.

The world remains a dumpster fire, but I feel a little more at ease than I have in a long time. I hope to take another trip before the year ends. Catharsis is good.