"At some point in our lives, we have experienced situations in which we have the need to restart. Situations from which we would like to escape and run away through the emergency exit, an exit that is not the common exit, but the exit that is taken when in crisis” says the Chilean writer José Ignacio Valenzuela in his new book Emergency Exit or Salida de Emergencia.
In a world that moves fast and constantly bombards with new information and positive scatological and miraculous solutions, it becomes harder to make the necessary time to identify and take care of personal crisis. Crisis sometimes only make themselves visible in desperation.
While listening to Valenzuela’s talk, I wonder what my emergency exits are. And, how do they help me?
Traveling is a major emergency exit in my life. Traveling brings me perspective from situations that became suffocated with stress, doubt, dissatisfaction, pain. These exits are emotional rescue reactions that serve as both escapes and shelters by facilitating a break free from the chaos and stagnation inside. They open to different air that refreshes the trapping present and recuperates those inner desires that have been numbed by responsibilities, negligence, and erosion. They remind me that reality can be happier, more balanced, and more meaningful. But, could emergency exits become self-destructive?
While they set off the inner alarms letting us realize of the need of oxygen for strong personal experiences, they could also become harmful choices if they transform in compulsive behaviors by acting as temporary evasion to the major problem. So, where is the balance? When do these doors open to rescue the self, and when do they lead to constant excuses to get away from the need of genuine change?
As in airplanes, we receive training on how to exit in case of emergency every time we start a trip. However, when in extreme situations, the contact with our most profound unknown emotions can produce desperate actions that can lead to worse results. Yet, many negative outcomes can be prevented if well-designed training and signs are in place. The more we educate ourselves about ourselves, the more we will enable ourselves to take assertive steps to make sense of our existence.
Crisis require careful connection and comprehension of the emotions and feelings so as to be able to put order in the internal chaos that have surrounded the most delicious areas of life. If we don't pause and listen to our emotional responses, we might just end up running back and forth in a burning building.
Seeing, acting, transforming are the first steps in making emergency exits as way out of the ordinary into the extraordinary.
"It is in the ink and creativity where the real emergency exits are." Valenzuela
Inés
