Sometimes You Just Gotta Leave Town...

Photos by: Tutti de Monte Photography + Kat Harris

In ways that I have never had to fight for stillness in my life, I have to fight for it in New York City. New York is one of the most magical places I have ever experienced. If you are dreamer and a doer, a mover and a shaker; it is the place for you to make your dreams a reality. Because the pace of life is so fast, there are times where I feel like if I'm not careful I will blink and 10 years will have flown past me.

So much of the time I love this about the city. The opportunity. The type of people that the city lures. The passionate world changing movers and shakers. The creative energy is magnetic.

But. There's a but, and it's an important one. I believe stillness to be a powerful practice in life, and I'm the type of person that needs nature in my life to not only function but thrive.

Stillness in the city is never an accident; like anything we truly value in our lives it must be ardently fought for.

So this means that sometimes on a random Friday I ditch work with my friends and drive upstate, even if it means we're in the car for longer than we're outside. We go because our souls need it. We hop in a rental car, or a borrowed car, and we put on music and eat road trip snacks, and we get out of town for that hour or two or three of social media free/subway free/stree free nature.

I'm grateful that I have friends that value stillness, and nature, and road trip playlists, and Cheetos, and rolling around in the grass, and running through fields on a freezing cold Friday afternoon.