A few weeks ago, on my birthday weekend, my friends and I went hiking, setting out to hike to the Hollywood sign. We didn’t have a map, waters, a plan…so in short, we pretty much decided to go on an adventure. As cars, rounded the corners, speeding past us, we navigated our way through the hills and came upon a big sign that said, “NO TRESPASSING.”

Well, since English is my second language and therefore sometimes I have selective reading ability, I “oopsie” didn’t actually see nor understand any signs and we proceeded up the embankment to our destination.

As a photographer, one of the first things I learned from a fellow photographer was “Always ask for forgiveness and not permission.” (DO NOT TAKE THAT ADVICE FROM ME. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS ASK FOR PERMISSION). <—-In case you blame me for getting in trouble in the future, I am so pulling this post up and directing you to the BOLDLY proclaimed message. *Cough* Cough* Anyway,  I don’t do either. I usually just act dumb…”Wait, what? There was a sign?!“

So the other day, I found myself home on a weekend with no to-do list, an empty inbox and not one appointment on the books. This is as rare as a Loch Ness sighting. I slept in until 11, staying in bed and in my pajamas until 4 pm and generally acted like a sloth. It was horrible. I usually keep myself incredibly busy because when I don’t, my mind is not engaged and then it starts wandering to places I do not want it to go. Like my physical self, my mind ignores all  NO TRESPASSING, DANGER, CAUTION signs that I’ve dutifully posted all around and it jumps past the walls, through barbed wire, over the booby traps to all those places that it’s not allowed to venture. And once it’s there, there is is no stopping it. My mind wants to open old boxes and dust off old memories and rehash old wounds. It wants to play the “What if” game and push buttons. And trust me, it’s pretty ugly in there.

I guess my physical self needs to start setting a better example for my mental self and stop ignoring all the warning signs that are posted.