Do you want to run away?

Feeling like you want to get in your car and drive far, far away – or even get on a plane and leave everything behind – is a sign that you are overwhelmed and depleted. You might feel so unfulfilled, unbalanced, under pressure and exhausted that you just want to escape it all. If you feel like this, this blog is for you.

Whether you feel like you want to run away or you’ve heard this from someone else, something in your life needs to shift before you can feel more at ease. The feeling that you need to escape is a major sign that you need more of two things in your life: more balance and more rest.

Most people who feel trapped and desire escape think that dramatically changing their environment is a solution. Feeling trapped is typically the result of tension or lack of support in your life. If you perceive that your environment (and the people involved in that environment) is unsupportive, stress-inducing, tense or emotionally uncomfortable in any way, it makes sense that you would want to escape it!

That said, running away from the circumstances of your life really isn’t the best thing to do for many of us. There are other ways you can escape in your daily life and get more of what you need so that you don’t end up feeling trapped in the first place.

You can escape in small ways by letting go of the little things that add stress and pressure to your life. If you were to get away, what would you be doing? And how can you incorporate more of that in your life right now? You can start by thinking about everything you do in one week, and whether there is something you can let go of to create more space for down time. It could be as simple as saying no more often so that you have more time for yourself.

Most importantly, if you want to run away, it’s extremely likely that you need more rest and sleep. Commit to getting your eight hours for one week and see how you feel.

Also remember that waiting for something to change is not the answer, because the change you’re looking for might not happen if you don’t do anything differently. You don’t want to live your life feeling like you need to run from it, so focus on taking responsibility for your life and for how you feel – this will help guide you to make better choices regarding self-care and self-love.