A week of friend therapy

We all need it from time to time. It can be hard to admit and even harder to recognize as our lives accelerate and whiz past us at lightning speeds. We get distracted by work and school, family and partners. We see only those things in the now, those things that need immediate attention. And in all this we lose parts of ourselves - not necessarily for good but perhaps they become dormant; they go into hibernation until we are once again ready to pay attention.

These observations may sound strange coming from someone who is spending a year 'paying attention.' Isn't that what a 'year off' is supposed to be? A year of contemplating oneself and one's place in the world? Yes, but even that has its stresses. The planning that goes into these types of trips and the contingency preparations are enormous. There are concerns with every decision and even every day, particularly those spent on the road. And of course life does not stop simply because one decides to take a year off. I've had to tend to other responsibilities and life preparation type tasks.

So this week, amidst a year of what was supposed to be this, I indulged in a bit of a friend therapy. This is a widely used but not widely discussed type of therapy. It involves surrounding yourself with your best friends in a stress-free environment.

The most potent facet of this type of treatment is laughter. And boy did we do a lot of it. The week we spent on the beach in Florida was filled with it. It overflowed with it. We were silly. We were caddy. Witty. Happy. We were ourselves. Just us, trusted friends, together.

We talked and talked and talked. We talked mostly about things that girl friends can't talk about with anyone else. We needed each other for these things.

We cooked and drank and saw girlie movies.

We relaxed and took the time to pay attention to those sometime-dormant things.