I do not often take vacations. Usually for the last 6 years all my “vacations” have been either time off to study or to go learn at 5 to 10 day courses lasting 12 hours a day or until recently going for trainings and races. This was quite the treat. So here are a few reflections of the vacation I took last week
6 days 6 theme parks. BOOM. ( Epcot, Hollywood studios, Animal kingdom, Magic kingdom, NASA, and Universal Studios) DONE !
My watch data never lies…
Almost 100000 steps
47.8 miles of walking
9 to 12 hours day of sight seeing
Avg calories burned each day 2800 ( total of 9500 calories in 6days)
We saw 85+ % of the attractions in each park.
With my 40+ pound backpack filled with snacks, several water bottles and assortment of necessities, hat, my trusty map and pen I marched around planning and organizing our tour. It was a military type expedition, checking off what we had visited, until I finally let go of control and surrendered the directions over to my wife at day 4. It was just too much of strategic planning, I had turned into a grouch, barking out orders.. I was not having fun.
It was quite the physical endurance, I mean I have always wanted to do an ultra marathon, guess I got to do it just in a different way. Many long lines added to the fatigue and impatience, yet there is not much to do but hurry up and wait, whether it was in the lines for the rides or even just starving in the cues for food. The maximum time I waited for any ride was 140 minutes. Day 2 we got lightning passes to hurry along, but still there was plenty of waiting involved. Patience is a virtue they say… I had time to develop some.
I am absolutely terrified of roller coasters. Odd because I have no problem with altitude and descents and rolls while flying a Cessna plane, but put me in a ride and I turn in to this ball of terror gripping the sides, and tight jaws praying for the 4 minute ride to be over. Letting go of control was something I was forced to experienced, not just with the maps but also with the attractions.
There was so much to see and experience that I became the prisoner of illusion, trapped in the simulations, the shows, the rides, the noise, the music, the thousands of fellow tourists all trying to forcefully explore the park in a compressed time period, as most darted around at the whims of their kids. It was funny watching kids having meltdowns and their parents having meltdowns right along side them…. Until my offspring started too, and I joined in !! One man’s dream ( Disney) became every parents’ nightmare as there were endless pee breaks, hunger pangs and stimulating “ things to see”. Mentally and emotionally exhausting.
At the end of each day as we walked back to the car, exiting the park, it was like we were heading back to reality out of the illusion. Yet I wondered how similar this was to life. One day when we die and we wake up to the true reality of the universe and realize that this life was the illusion all along. Life was like the theme parks, filled with light, sound and stimulation, filled with imagination, doubts and fears, till we rise to our true spiritual nature and form.
Turkey legs, sour patches, Swedish fish, candy ( and lots of it), protein bars and with stops for the “assemblance of real food “ and plenty of soda kept us going. I have not had Soda in over 15 years so my body was in shock when it started to consume the indulgence of sugar and caffeine. It was out of necessity to quench the thirst on the hot days. Literally after the first sip of coca cola, I was hooked. My body craved the whole jug with fury. Each ride ended automatically into stores that beckoned us to buy buy buy, spend spend spend…said the unraveled nervous system. Frazzled and confused the mind then sought food and sugary drinks. We were hopping from one dopamine high to the next.. rides… spend.. sugar craving.. I must say this was quite the excellent marketing strategy.
Lots of salty chips were needed to ground me back to the earth from the highs of the dopamine. And so just like in the roller coaster of real life I explored the highs and lows of my mental state, the push and pulls of my body and the peaks and troughs of my emotions through sugar and salt.
There was so much attention to detail in all the attractions that one can easily forget what is real and what was artificial. Immersed in the worlds of imagination, especially with the 4d simulators, in Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avatar and so many movie based themes it was hard to unplug back into reality which was still UNreal till one exited the park. My body was buzzing with speed and stimulation.
All the parks were like small worlds that I entered and explored, much like this lifetime experience. There were so many similarities to the distractions in life that hold us hostage to this illusion, not unlike the captivating attractions. My soul entered this body of sensation to experience the material universe, much like my body entered the parks to explore the imagination potential. Deeper and deeper the mind goes down the rabbit hole of make believe.
Glad that is over.. back to eating healthy, no sugar, no soda, and more meditation to calm the fried nervous system akin to a live toaster in a water filled bath tub.
Grateful I got the opportunity to spend time with family on this wondrous adventure. The kids did great and I commended them on their own ultra marathons of walking each day, but the time for grounding is here.
Stepping off the Merry Go round of imagination and Into the frying pan of illusion of life…wonder when will i discover the true silence of the universe…..
Thank you everyone for following along on this journey.
……………….
I love you
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