By Ashley Lopez

Hello everyone, welcome back 😊  

Do you ever bite your tongue to prevent yourself from saying something? I used to think that was just an old saying, but I literally find myself biting my tongue a lot. Do you know how stressful that is? My tongue needs a break.  

Do you ever want to smash your phone with a hammer because you’re so sick of all the damn notifications? If our phones weren’t so damn smart and expensive, I would smash it to pieces. I just want to disconnect. Can I please just have a landline again? Leave a message after the BEEP.  

Do you ever just want to go off the grid without having anyone question where the hell you’re at? Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that I have people that care enough about my whereabouts… but this also makes it all the much harder to disappear if I wanted to.  

Where do you picture your happy place? Or better yet, if you could take the perfect, most relaxing nap of your life right now—where would it be? I’ll tell you mine.  

Mine is on a pond laying on a floating king-sized mattress with the highest thread count sheets, six fluffy pillows, and a huge down comforter covering my naked body. I’m wearing only black sunglasses to protect my eyes. Miles and miles of green hills surround the pond. Directly around the mattress are lily pads, frogs, birds, and bulrush plants. There’s a slight breeze, but I fall asleep quickly with the warm, but not too hot sun hitting my face while listening to the animals around me as I’m swaying ever so lightly on the bed to the rhythm of the pond. Hours later when I wake up, I sit up, possibly exposing my breasts, but that’s okay because I’m the only one here, and I stretch. Best nap ever.  

So, when I am biting my tongue, in the mood to smash my phone, or run away, I picture my splendid pond that I have yet to find, but trust me I know it’s out there. If I didn’t have my pond or an imaginary mattress that goes again the odds of science and somehow doesn’t sink, I wouldn’t have something to calm me in moments of distress.  

We all need this calm. This week I challenge you to find your place. Where are you? Who are you with? How’s the weather? What do you hear? Don’t worry, if you want to be surrounded by beautiful snow caps, but not be freezing, that’s okay too! Just because we are adults doesn’t mean we can’t use our imagination.  

Imagine this: you’re still a kid wanting to take the best nap of your life.  

Thanks for reading, xo.