Deployment 34: Rest & Relaxation
Ottessa, 1hr N of Melbourne
There's a writer called Ottessa that we really dig. You've likely heard of her, there aren't many people with that name in literary circles. Anyway, among the many reasons we dig Ottessa is that she once wrote a book about a woman who was so over the rigmarole of everyday life that she decided to take a year off. Her plan was to knock herself out with pharmaceuticals every night and sleepwalk through the 365 days (something we don't condone, PS) until she felt better about being alive. If you've ever done a really heavy work week, including pulling all-nighter or weekends, you can probably sympathise.
The book is called My Year of Rest & Relaxation, and when we met Ottessa while camping in the forest outside of Yellowstone, we asked her if she thought oblivion was really the key to deep relaxation. She told us that since she'd moved out of the city and spent more time sucking in fresh mountain air, she'd somewhat revised her hypothesis on her fictional subject. It turns out, she explained, that what's stressing us out isn't simply life itself. Rather, it's the type of life we're leading.
Ottessa had many reasons for moving her life off-grid, but this really was the core of it. We caught that vibe and brought it home with us. And when we decided on our next location, so close to the city that you could escape it without even having to make proper plans, we knew we had to name it for our Queen of Rest and Relaxation. May we all find natural antidotes to very modern problems. Life's too short for sleepwalking.
Ottessa, located a mere hour or so from Melbourne, is now available for future nature sessions right here.