Joshua Tree National Park | Personal Escape

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Somehow...despite living in California my entire life...I had never actually been to Joshua Tree National Park.

In general, I have found that I used to be a bit of a "local-body". I've always had a drive to travel & explore, but so easily I got stuck in my day-to-day, that any exploring I did was often either a big trip (far far away) or right in my own backyard. Why I struggled to travel anywhere in between that 30 minutes and 12 hours...well, I just couldn't tell you.

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Climbing definitely helped change that in me. Being a photographer in Colorado helped too, but that was always "technically" for work. Even passion projects seemed to serve a work-related purpose.

Climbing though...

there is no rhyme or reason to that.

It's a pretty selfish thing really...and that's something I really love about it.

It doesn't serve any tangible purpose.

As someone who has always struggled to be productive, proactive & efficient with my time & energy, that is an incredibly freeing thing.

It's therapeutic for me, really. To "waste" time.

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."

- John Lennon