Not that everything I do is what I call “work.” I finally joined one online game, Café World on Facebook, about a year ago in the hope of forcing myself to take some playtime. But that pesky Type-A personality eventually stuck her nose to the grindstone there, too, and I’ve begun to wonder lately if she’s not becoming a bit too ferocious. I put a timer on the pushy thing even though the results are a bit…erratic. 🙂

And I’m serious about my writing. Of course, I love to write so it’s often more like play when I get an entire day to myself to work on my novels but that’s not where I’m going with my musings.

My point? All work and no play makes this writer a dull girl!

Luckily, my husband knows this terrible, not-so-secret secret about me. He is also a persistent man, one of the few people capable of enticing me from the castle to go play in the big, wide world. Did I walk willingly over the drawbridge on Sunday? Actually, my Type-A personality pitched a quiet hissy fit. But once we hit the road, I felt all of the long hours I’ve been working lately fall off my shoulders and realized I really, really needed the break.

There are few things that make me relax like driving through the Rocky Mountains and, on Sunday, we drove through an area neither of us had ever explored. We ended up on a winding dirt road that threatened our – okay, my – delicious barbecue lunch but along the way we found pure beauty. I also found peace and inspiration to soothe my savage Type-A personality. It made returning to work today a pleasure.

Fall is just peeking its head out in Colorado so I wasn’t quite sure how much color we’d find, but I was delighted to see more of it when we hit the foothills. I hardly turned my camera off on the way back down the mountain. I knew every spot I wanted to photograph and we stopped more than once. I can’t tell you how “full” I felt inside after such a wonderful day in my mountains. But I can only share pictures that may give you an inkling.

Of course, I won’t tell you exactly where I took the pictures because I’m protecting my sweet spot. Hey, I told you I’m a Type-A! 🙂

Life is frenetic and it’s too easy to get sucked into the whirlpool. The deeper you descend, the harder it is to stay afloat. Everyone needs to find their sweet spot, a favorite place to play for a while. It doesn’t have to be a trip to the mountains or beach, although they’re two of my favorite jaunts. It can be a day at the spa. A horseback ride. Taking the kids to the park for an afternoon picnic. The world of possibilities is wide open.

Hooky…it’s good for the soul.