I hope everyone has a place where they can go, relax, and forget about things for a while. A place where your problems don't exist for a little bit a time, an area where you can chill and be happy for a moment. For me, that place is an ice rink. Like Gordon Bombay finding himself on the pond, my happy place is a sheet of ice where I can skate and shoot some pucks. Alternatively my personal hell is the mall during Christmas. Not much explanation is needed for this I'm sure. Thank God for the internet. Over the past 4 years I've only left the house to buy a half dozen gifts. Focus Your Happy Place Alt-Focus Your UnHappy Place
Simply put, outside. Weather doesn't matter, and most times the challenge of shitty weather makes it that much better. Camping, sailing, floating in a belly boat, walking a stream, sitting in a deer stand; anywhere without cell coverage, power, or neighbours.
Focus: My family's lake house. Its about an hour out of the city, no cell service, no town within 15 miles, just a few marinas on the water. Nothing beats getting up there at 6 on a Friday and not leaving until Sunday night, completely relaxing. Family weekend or shit show weekend, either way its great every time. Alt-Focus:Clemson.
My alone happy place is when I'm in my bedroom, watching something entertaining, eating a snack, one of my kitties next to me. Or if I'm at Fresh Market and not in a hurry. FM has classical music playing, pleasing displays, it's quiet and friendly. It's kind of a smaller version of Whole Foods (I've only been there once and said to myself, "Hey, this is a larger version of Fresh Market"). My kid-related happy place is Friday nights when we are watching a movie together and she wants to have snuggles. My husband related happy place is Sunday afternoons when we go out to lunch and sometimes hit the thrift stores. My unhappy place is driving under certain conditions - darkness, rain, rush hour. When I hit the trifecta I am miserable.
Focus: I have a few happy places. * Sitting at the piano, a big cup of tea next to me, a Beethoven sonata under my fingers. * Curled up in the bay window at my parents' house during a thunderstorm watching the lightning. * Lying on the beach with a good book listening to the waves hit the shore. Anti-focus: * Crowded bars. I hate crowds so much.
Happy Place: In the boat house of the lake house my parents rent every year. I am the only one who sleeps in the boat house. It was built directly over the lake, so I wake up every morning to the sounds of waves hitting shore. No one has any reason to come in there, so I don't get woken up by the kids blasting video games like I do at home. Also, I read books on a couch that looks like this: Unhappy Place: Any crowd. When there are too many people around me I get the urge to start tripping people are punching them in the back of the head. I do not do well in crowds.
At my apartment by myself with a glass of whiskey and the Cool Jazz station on Pandora playing throughout the place. No TV, no iPad, no phone. Just me and Lomax Purnsley (my pussycat). Alternatively, meditating on the crest of Crater Lake in Oregon. I did it once a few years ago and there was no one around. Closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience and it was serene. My unhappy place is anywhere I have to wait in line. I hate waiting in line.
Happy place: I'm all about seclusion in nature. Doesn't matter where. I've been alone in the desert of west Texas and also in the woods in West Virginia. My best experience would be at this natural hot spring out on the Mexican border. There is nothing out there at all. So you can see every star. And the water is incredibly soothing and full of natural minerals. My unhappy place: Any crowded douche filled bar/club. Just...no.
Sea bass!? "I'll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen." Happy Place: At the top of the mountain, preferably in Beaver Creek Colorado, on some connecting trail, enjoying a few inches of fresh powder and blue sky, where the only sound I hear is the whispering swish of my skis. Ideally it's mid-afternoon, my legs are burning from so much vertical feet, and I'm head to hit one more challenging, but doable, slope before my last descent. Unhappy Place: Behind of the wheel of a car on a lengthy connector road when I can't pass, and the idiot in front of me is doing 2 mph under the speed limit. It's illogical, I can't control it, and I know it's only adding a few minutes to my drive; but, it makes me want to fold the steering wheel in half with an angry death grip. There's a particular road here that I have to travel that is making my blood boil right now just thinking about it. I will take a route that is about 5 miles out of my way to just avoid it most of the time.
Happy Places: Outdoors. Preferably in the woods or on a lake, far away from the internet/phones, paved roads and power lines. Especially with a gun or fishing rod in my hands too, and at dawn or dusk. I'm alone and there's no motors or gadgets, just nothing to disturb the wilderness as it is. Another is sitting at my workbench on a weekend morning after sleeping in and having a cup or two of french press coffee, with the radio soft in the background, the dog sleeping at my feet, and the air smells like sawdust. It is peaceful and I am focused but relaxed, and I can be most productive then. Finally my girlfriend's bed is unbelievably comfortable and I feel incredibly content laying there with her next to me. Unhappy Places: Downtown rush hour traffic, retail stores around holidays, the Mall of America any day of the year, and pretentious bars/clubs full of hipsters and brahs. Needs no explanation. Moving to the Minneapolis from my hometown was very tough at first because it took away my easy access to the woods and water, and dropped me in the middle of my unhappy places, but I've adapted to it over time.
Focus: Right now my happy place is my house. It's my space and I can relax or take care of some house/yard work (I don't love mowing or painting but since its my place it feels more rewarding). Alt focus: I'll echo traffic and crowded super loud bars. I can get almost irrationally angry in traffic, more on the highway than in the city for some reason. How the hell do people not know to use cruise control? Seriously.
Happy place: My house. It was a complete wreck when I moved in, but a few years later it is exactly where the wife and I want it. Right now I'm at the computer nursing a hangover from the Spurs game last night with a Dos Equis from the beer fridge within arm's reach, watching ESPN on the 55" tv above the fireplace, and I can see the shed from here. What's in the shed? Everything I want or need in life. Multiple fishing rods setup and ready to go, along with a tackle box, net, and throw net if I feel like walking a quarter mile to our creek to catch dinner. A work bench, welding station, plumbing equipment, electrical repair stuff and wood working materials that has saved me un-told thousands simply by fixing that shit myself. Outside the shed is a large rock fire bit and handmade smoker. This home is my happy place. Un-happy place: The hospital. I've been there far too often, and nothing good (except my son) has come from it. But since that is rather specific, in a more general sense I get unhappy whenever I have to "go into the city" for any reason. Or travel to any big city for that matter. I can feel my pulse quicken, I get rushed by the unnecessary sense of urgency everyone seems to have. I don't like it.
Happy Place: Band practice. Doesn't matter if it's in a basement, a garage, or a studio. Sitting around with other musicians while we work things out is tremendous. Having some coffee and a smoke while figuring something out on my guitar is about as close to heaven as I'll likely get. Unhappy Place: On stage. My stagefright got worse the older I got. By the end of my playing out days, I would be nauseous for a week beforehand. Being on stage became a terrifying experience, so much so that I haven't played in a band in 5 years. I don't think I'm likely to do so ever again. Which is sad, because I'm not in bands anymore, which means I never am in my happy place.
Focus: My happy place is on my motorcycle with asphalt under my tires and the wind in my hair. It's my go to if I'm stressed and need to relax. If I have the opportunity though my happy place is one the lake, especially in the morning. There's not much more beautiful than a clear cool morning with a lake of glass.
Focus: Outdoors. It really doesn’t matter where, walking, hiking, camping, fishing. But my favorite places are on the lake trolling, sitting by a camp fire or on the river banks with a casting rod. Another one is on my motorcycle. Either a nice leisurely cruiser is very relaxing, getting the adrenaline going with your head tucked down trying to hit your favourite curve or on a straight stretch trying to max out your spedo.
Happy Place(s): Used bookstores, especially if there's a bookstore cat trailing me. In The Nook - where you're snugging up with a guy and you're basically lying in his armpit with your head resting between his chest and his arm around you, preferably with my cat in the bed too if it's at my place, or with his pet (if he has one) if we're at his place. Being outside on a sunny day - either walking in the woods, or up in the mountains of my hometown, or helping my dad in his garden, or lying in a field somewhere, or being by any kind of body of water (especially if there's a waterfall), or on the beach. Unhappy Place: Suburban towns where it's all chains and box stores and all of the houses look the same and are only in those weird "communities" that each have their own name. It gets me so down.
Happy place: anything outdoorsy. Grilling with friends, weeding my garden, removing a stump, playing fetch with my dog. All things happy and productive happen outside. Alternately, when my kitchen is clean and I am cooking up something delicious. There is no burden of cleaning stuff and I can just enjoy the sensory overload of smells, tastes, textures. Speaking of which, I have a little pizza in the oven, all for moi. I'm moist. Alt focus: I feel like crowds of people keep me from progressing and doing what I want. Traffic, a busy as fuck restaurant, a bar, a concert. I get drawn in by the cool stuff there is to do at said location but the people just get in the way. Stay home, people! I've got places to be.
To be fair my original post said my happy place was "balls-deep in Bill Cosbys butthole" but I thought I'd keep it classy and edited it. Thanks for bringing everyone down.
I've got several places that spring to mind. First would have to be my father's lake house. Going there this weekend and I can't wait to take a relaxing ride on the boat then come back to the house, grill something tasty while drinking a few beers and shooting the shit with everyone. All the stress just melts away when I'm there and unfortunately it isn't going to last much longer since he's selling the place and moving to the beach. Another would be any time that I get a lot of stuff done around the house and yard or finish a project I'm working on. Anything where I'm covered in sweat and feeling beaten down at the end is a good day. Getting cleaned up then relaxing with a beer afterward is a great feeling for me. I also love to hop on the motorcycle and go for a relaxing ride, it's just a shame other people are on the road to ruin it. I get road rage far too easily, so I can't really call it a happy place. Alt Focus: Any time I get an injury that sidelines me from being active, I stay in a constant grumpy state. Physical activity is a stress reliever for me and when that option is off the table, not many things can cheer me up.