Have you ever just 'walked away'?

Status
Not open for further replies.

nolonger

Well-Known Member
#1
I'm wondering if anyone here has just 'walked away' from any of their problems because they just didn't want to do something/were fed up?

For me, it'd be an alternative to suicide. Because in the end, by killing myself I'd be walking away from life(something I wanted no part in).

So have you ever just dumped all your shit and wandered off for a day or two? Kinda like a spur-of-the-moment vacation, "Fuck this. I'm going elswhere.".

I seriously feel like taking a vacation from life. Where the hell do I get one? :unsure:
 

Stormrider

Well-Known Member
#2
The point of a vacation is that's you can come back.
By suicide you can't come back, so you won't know if you can get your problems solved and maybe get a better life.

Sometimes i "walk away from my problems" by doing sports or just go driving around in my car listening to my favorite music.
Sometimes it helps to do something that gets the bad stuff out of your mind for a while.
 

Acy

Mama Bear - TLC, Common Sense
Admin
SF Supporter
#3
A short break away from things can give us time away from immediate stresses and problems and may allow us to get the rest we need to see things from a new perspective and to find other options.

To just walk away completely...? I dunno. I suspect that even if we do that, our learned behaviors and reactions to situations come with us, so even new situations that remind us of the past might start the same issues again. At least inside of US. When life has taught us ways to cope with things, just getting away may not change our coping style. That takes internal work on ourselves. Being away from the source(s) of immediate stress might be helpful...I dunno.
 

jota1

Well-Known Member
#4
I have done it once.

Gave my business away to a family member and took time off. I did not want to be with anyone or have any responsibilities so I freed myself of all the personal and work chains.

Took me nearly two years to get back to some sort of sanity and it was a very empowering experience... one I miss quite a lot.
 

johnnysays

Well-Known Member
#5
I'm wondering if anyone here has just 'walked away' from any of their problems because they just didn't want to do something/were fed up?

For me, it'd be an alternative to suicide. Because in the end, by killing myself I'd be walking away from life(something I wanted no part in).

So have you ever just dumped all your shit and wandered off for a day or two? Kinda like a spur-of-the-moment vacation, "Fuck this. I'm going elswhere.".

I seriously feel like taking a vacation from life. Where the hell do I get one? :unsure:
I think the first time this happened to me was in 2004. By then I was in my mid 20's. But even before that I had given up on life. But 2004 was the year I finally let go. It was the like the first time in my life that I flunked a class and DID NOT GIVE A DAMN. That's what it represented.

Please don't do what I've done. I'm trying to recover from it all thes years later. I want to get better. I regret all of it. You will too. Life is hard. They don't say that for show. You need people to turn to when it gets hard. I hope you're not alone. You need things that interest you too so you can look forward to tomorrow. You need your education. Please stay in school. You need your health. Please stay in shape. You need your friends. Please don't hide in your room. All of this, I have done. That's why I warn you. Please make better choices than I have. Don't become bitter and regretful and barely alive.

We only have 1 chance. The next 10 years will fly by. That's why it's important not to waste too much time. It's ok to waste some time because we all need breaks. But if wasting time becomes a habit, 10 years will fly by and you will have nothing to show for it. Every 10 years that passes by we're crippled by age and worry. The older we get the more this age and worry stacks up. By the time we're in our last year of life we carry so much weight that we're ready to die. Don't wait to do things in life until you're old because when you're old your body won't be able to do it and your mind will be too tired.

Take pride in what you do. Every minute, every hour that you invest in your career skills makes you better! And every minute and every hour you invest makes you that much better than people who don't. Feeling pride is deserved and you should not feel ashamed for it. Worry about yourself first before you worry about the world. Develop your career interests and skills. Get a girlfriend or boyfriend if you have to, but put off serious engagement until you can hold a decent job that'll keep things smooth. That could be well into your 30's or even your 40's, so don't rush relationships! Think about career first. What you really need are people in your life who're on a path of success and are optimistic about life. You need that optimism and success to carry over to you. So don't associate with people who embrace losing. I feel sorry for people that do, I myself am a loser, but sometimes we have to do what's good for us and move on and not get caught up in the ditches and cracks in the road. Just keep your head up and keep moving forward.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Terry

Antiquities Friend
Staff Alumni
#6
I once walked off for 6 months :laugh:
Just packed a back pack, cats into cat basket and walked out on my life.
Was the most liberating thing I ever did.
However, 6 months later, got fed up with leaky caravan that I was living in.
Still loved my job working at stables but felt so lonely and adrift.
So eventually I packed back pack and cats and went home.
 

bluegrey

Antiquities Friend
#7
In my late teens I had flunked out of college because I became too afraid to attend classes. I was several years tormented by undiagnosed OCD and depression. I saw the Robert Redford movie "Jeremiah Johnson" and decided to get some camping gear and live off of the land.

What I ended up doing was going into local nature preserves on my mountain bike and spent many days watching my handheld TV, reading motorcycle magazines and photographing wild red foxes I attracted with dog food. I "wasted" a lot of time in that period but it is a great memory.
 

black_rose_99

Well-Known Member
#8
I picked up my whole life and moved countries in order to walk away from my problems (namely a relationship I didn't know how to end). But it didn't help - it ended the relationship, but the insecurities and fears are still there, and I ended up in a much worse relationship, and in a much worse headspace.

I do travel a lot in Europe, and most of those situations are walking away from how I feel. But when I get back to London, all those problems are still there. And I have taken off for weekends before just to get away from it all.

I've thought often of picking up and moving to another country again to start afresh. But it doesn't really work, so I'm trying to fix the cause (with little success) instead of continually running away.
 

Illusion

Well-Known Member
#9
I walk away from my problems for a bit a lot. After my breakdown I had at school one time, I just pulled my hood over my head and walked away for a long time before returning.
 

Stranger1

Forum Buddy & Antiquities Friend
#10
I walked away from my family and friends for six years.. No one knew where I was.. My oldest sister hired a private dick to track me down.. He found out I was in New York but didn't have a clew where I was..
 

Monsieur

Well-Known Member
#11
I feel like I've been trying to walk away metaphorically this whole time through escapist coping methods. Unfortunately I'm physically still here....still confined to the rules of and regulations of this contemporary society.
 

gakky1

Well-Known Member
#12
I'm wondering if anyone here has just 'walked away' from any of their problems because they just didn't want to do something/were fed up?

For me, it'd be an alternative to suicide. Because in the end, by killing myself I'd be walking away from life(something I wanted no part in).

So have you ever just dumped all your shit and wandered off for a day or two? Kinda like a spur-of-the-moment vacation, "Fuck this. I'm going elswhere.".

I seriously feel like taking a vacation from life. Where the hell do I get one? :unsure:
I walk away and ignore my problems as a bad rule. Most extreme thing I did was wake up one morning 20+ years ago, totally sick of everything in my life, packed a suitcase, left everything that didn't fit(which was a lot), cleaned out my bank account, hopped on a bus and moved to the next state. That was over 20 years ago and have never gone back, worked out for a while but now I'm worse off than ever.:grr: Problem with just 'walking away' is that you can't walk away from yourself, you'd probably be the same wherever you are. Wouldn't suggest just walking away, but hey maybe it would work, though just a short vacation away from your problems wouldn't solve anything, they'd probably only get worse.:mhmm:
 
#13
I haven't done it, though i do have a plan in pace to do it. I will be moving out of the country and to another continent. Yes my family knows i have plans but what they dont know is that when i get there i most likely wont come back and will cut off all connections.
 

Viro

Well-Known Member
#14
For 6.5 hours I disappeared. Walking the whole time, just trying to get away. People at my school freaked out. They called my friends down to the office to ask them where they thought I had gone.

I haven't thought about that in a long time :ohmy:
 

chipper

Well-Known Member
#15
For 6.5 hours I disappeared. Walking the whole time, just trying to get away. People at my school freaked out. They called my friends down to the office to ask them where they thought I had gone.

I haven't thought about that in a long time :ohmy:
this is what i do all the time. i literally walk away, run away actually, till i get so tired i become helpless. it's feels good after that. it clears my head. when i come back, problems are still there but at least i got several hours away from everything.
 

doityourself

Well-Known Member
#16
Never have done it more than a few hours, but how nice to be able to just pick up and go, take a break from life, refresh your mind.

But I agree with above, most times you cant outrun your problems, they just start to pile up in a new pile.
 
#17
When I was in my 30s, and after a really messy divorce, I decided enough was enough. I cleared my bank account, gave away all my possesions except for the trust motor bike, and lived in a ditch in a forest for 6 months. Nobody knew where I was, just total isolation. I would drift to shops for food, wash in the sea, near by beach was cut off by cliffs so no one could access it. My very own beach, and my very own ditch. 20 years later, I still hanker after the pleasure that time brought
 

herenow

Well-Known Member
#18
I used to take long walks in a park-forest. Once I got on a bus claiming to go to the mall, and somehow ended up two towns and two hours away. I believe it was dissociate fugue. It was kind of scary.
 
#19
Two weeks ago I packed a bag and made to leave. I thought I was fully intending to come back after a couple of days.

Then, on my way out, someone came to my house and found me. I admitted what I was doing and agreed to stay.

Now I know I probably wouldn't have come back if I'd made it out the door.

ETA: Also, I use escapist coping methods all the time too, Monsieur.
 

gloomy

Account Closed
#20
One of the best feelings I have ever had was when I just completely left behind my life in one place. Only one person knew that I was leaving-- that made it better. I like the idea of being completely anonymous and alone… no, I love it. It was actually the last time I can remember feeling extremely great about everything. I was also pretty sad. But ecstatic.

I've never gotten to the point where I didn't have anything to go back to, or didn't have anything to move on to, however.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Please Donate to Help Keep SF Running

Total amount
$70.00
Goal
$255.00
Top