There's No Such Place as "Away"

Transcript of a Sage Hill Live Fully Podcast conversation with Dr. Chip Dodd. Lightly edited for readability; speaker labels omitted.

You're listening to the Sage Hill podcast with Dr. Chip Dodd. Sage Hill is a social impact organization that helps people see who they are made to be so they can do what they are made to do. In this podcast, Chip sits down with his long time friend, Stephen James, to discuss why our vacations don't achieve what we want them to. They explore the reality that there is no way to get away from our lives, even on vacation. Chip and Stephen talk about the need to show up in your life as yourself so that you can live fully with the ones you love. So Chip, we're coming up on summer vacation. People are starting to plan trips, going to Disney World, they're going to the beach, they're going to the mountains, You know? And and people I'm hearing people say, I just can't wait to get away. I just can't wait to take a break. I can't wait to put my head in a on on the beach. I can't wait to put my face in a book. I can't wait to Yes. Take some time off. And there's a there's a phrase that you say and you've written about called there's no such place as a way. Yeah. And, man, the first time you said that to me, I was so pissed off. I was so ticked because Yeah. It's like I don't like it either. What do you mean? There's gotta be a place to be. You're the one who goes to Disney World all the time. It's like, there's gotta be a place to get away. Yeah. So I was wondering, like like, why can't I get away? I just wanna get away. You answered

the the problem that just posed, introducing a reality we don't wanna hear, and you you produce the solution even as you introduced it. I'm that brilliant. You're that brilliant. Tell me how I did it. Well, you said there's no such place as away, and you describe people saying, I can't wait to get away, go to the mountains or the beach or the the cruise or the Disney World or Disneyland or the where else do people go? But, but you said, these people say, I can't wait to get away. I can't wait for a break, and those are two different things. That's what it's amazing, and we don't know that because we've been trying to believe that there's a place called away. And there isn't. There's no such place as away because wherever I go, there I am. And, vacation, I know we use it all the time, but and I know I I beat the drum of, like, look how sick we are. I get that. I get that. But look how sick we are. I mean, even our language is sick. It's it's twisted with grandiosity because vacation, the most pleasurable, wonderful, fabulous, dreamed about experience in the world, like, we wait on it, we anticipate it, and even the name of it is sick because it means vacate. It means get rid of, go to some place where you're not there, and it's insane. Go to some place life's not there. Place where life's not there. Instead, meaning it means to take a break from this thing so that you can have

more to bring to it. I had a friend who just come he just got back from, spring break a few weeks ago, and he was complaining about how it rained the last four days of spring break. They came back early because they they went for good weather, and it rained. Life showed up on their vacation. Yeah. And that's very sad. And I can see him being really, really angry Yeah. Whether he's whether he's using it as a break or to get away. Yeah. But, obviously, it's like maybe some getaway. Otherwise, perhaps he would have stayed. Yeah. I think he would have stayed. There's still stuff to do in the rain. I I guess he's pretty mad at God for not providing a place I think he's mad at his wife, actually, for booking the trip. Okay.

He would have booked it somewhere else for you. Person and so so but, so if we we have to face that wherever I go, there I am. There is no place to go but addiction that symbolizes or is a semblance of away. And it means away from your own heart. Mhmm. Away from attending. Away from needing. Away from the presence of God. Away from the presence of God. Away from being guided. Away from facing and feeling life instead of a break of replenishment from it. The solution is really easy. You said it's a break. What's the difference between a break and a way? Yeah. Well, first, we have to face that there's no such place. And, yeah, you said I go to Disney World. It's like, you bet. I do. I love that place. I like to go there as a reminder of what I'm made like and to rest from the paying attention to my surroundings a lot and concentrating on my assignments that I've given myself to do because I want to, desperately want to. When I go to Disney World, I look around and I see a place where a dreamer made dreams come to life. And I like to watch it. I like to smell it. I like to see it. I like to watch them keep up with all the the painting. For example, they have problem You go to Disney World to watch people paint. Yeah. Yeah. I I I like, oh, they're building that. Only ship dog. Yeah. Yeah. They've scraped that and painted that. Like, there there there's no place where it needs to be painted. I keep looking around for that. It needs to be painted, but they keep painting it, and they keep up with it all the time. And the place is groomed. A lot of times, they groom the place at night so that no one sees it happening during the day because they're presenting a world where they're pretending there's no garbage and there's no no leaf out of place or no blade of grass out of place. But the idea of going to a place where I can rest and replenish and restore and reenvision and recreate through recreating, but recreate because fun, for example, having fun is a great way to do something highly spiritual because it means to become unconscious with, of time. And so that we are literally recreating, regenerating how we're made to live life in the moment without having to watch a clock. It's by playing

Mhmm. Taking a break to play, we really lose ourselves in time, which is like a freedom. Yeah. And you know what, Stephen? The most passionate people are the are the best players. They're the they have the most fun. Because passion is a grown up form of play because it's a willingness to be in pain for something that matters more than pain. And let me make this point here. This is very interesting. Yeah. When a child is born, a child is born probably the the the the young birth is probably working harder than that human being will ever work the rest of their lives and more purely. Because work is a person bringing their hands, their head, and their heart to something. With their whole being. Their whole being. And no time in especially in early life because you don't know that the boundaries, you don't know that they're a failure, you don't know anything. You're you're bringing your whole self to life, and you're reaching for it with the sort of a quote, assumption, unquote, that that it will be fulfilling like like it's made to be. You you if even if it's biased biological with a human overlay, then you're still reaching for fulfillment. Like, when babies cry when they're hungry, they don't cry a little. Like, they bring a whole it helps to it. Yeah. So a child is born working. A child is born with faith. They're sure of what they hope for and they're searching of what they do not see that mama will show up even when she's not there. And a child is born with a passion. A child is willing to be in pain for something that matters more than pain, which means they have courage, full hearted participation. So when you're born, you have courage, you have faith, and you have work. You work is not something you do. It's something you literally have. Now passionate people are people who are willing to be in pain for something that matters more than pain. In other words, they're expending a lot in their vulnerability. They are dreaming out loud, thinking about what they're dreaming, and taking action about what they're thinking. And so they have a passion, they have a purpose, and a plan. Now that person really does need to stop. The greatest gift that a passionate person can give himself or herself is called stopping. Just stop. Stop. Because passionate people kinda don't want to stop. Stop it. Yeah. Stop it. Just stop it. Just quit. And don't practice so much. Don't think about it. It's not something that a passionate person can do. But stop.

Stop and go. Stop and go to Just doing basic boundaries. Yes. And knowing when to stop Yes. Take a break, replenish Yes. And then know when to start again. Marginal diminishing returns because a passionate person can't stop thinking about that which they're made to think. And so a passionate person is a child. Passionate person is a child and a and a grown up still carrying the the inborn recognition of a child. Person has courage, person works, person has faith, and that person needs to take a break. Because all humans are limited, and all of us expend our energies to the point of being worn out. So I'm aware that you're talking about this bigger idea of Sabbath, really. That the willingness to stop work for a bit of time,

let go daily, to let leave room for God to do what God does. Yeah. And think about how Sabbath was was divided up. There really was the Sabbath of the daily recognition of God. There was the Sabbath in the week, and there was the giant Sabbath, was there not, of the Jubilee the whole year. So what I'm saying is that a person who it knows they can't get away, then the option and the reality and the need is stop daily, rekindle, reenvision, reawaken, get away, quote, in other words, stop doing the dream, get away, go somewhere else so you can dream anew. Because it it won't go away. One of my favorite times of the day, and I wish I could say I did it seven days a week, but but many days will go for my family will go for a walk after dinner. Yeah. And dinner with my four kids is somewhat chaotic. Yeah. Like, it's not a very nice setting. It's a it's fun and lively and competitive. If if three boys is competitive eating. Yeah. But it's the walk after dinner that is the Sabbath of my day. Yes. It's the restoration. It's a fifteen, twenty minute Yeah. Like, mood changer. Yes. I mean, it's it's perfect.

Yeah. You stop and think and you Talk and Right? Don't talk. Don't talk. Stop and watch a bird in a tree. And And you are, on some level, still passionate about what you're doing, but you're resting from the past. Within this fifteen minutes, I'll come back with more energy Yeah. And more interest Yeah. And more engagement around my family than I would if I had not done the fifteen minutes. It's Mary Poppins. What do you mean? Well, I I mean and I know it's old, but it's classic. It and it's it will be with us forever. Let's go fly a kite up to the highest heights. And I know I'm terrible, but but Yeah. You cannot hear that. And that was the author of Mary Poppa's and Disney's infusion. That was the the the conclusion the unforgettable forgettable conclusion of a man who was spending his time with his nose on the grindstone because he knew there wasn't a place called away. And at the same time, the children were trying to spend their time getting away, but finally, at the end, he joined them and they joined him. It was their Sabbath. They sort of walked out of the duty of the bank and took time out to be with each other. It was just gorgeous. And any adult who had watched us even now cannot help but kind of just do what I just did. I was reminded when you talked about being on the street, you know, walking. It was like, yeah. Let's go fly kite. Let's stop, rest, replenish, reawaken Reflect. Rediscover, reflect. You know, the word restaurant is a place of restoration. The restaurant comes from restore. Restore means to go home. Means to go home and resupply, go home and stop, go home where life matters. I mean, warriors fight because of what's behind them called home. A soldier fights because of what's in front of him called I wanna do whatever I gotta do to get away from this. The warrior doesn't wanna get away. A warrior wants to do whatever it takes to stay in. But if a warrior doesn't self care I hate that term, but if a warrior doesn't take care of himself,

the heart fades. There's all kinds of way we talk about this. Put on your own oxygen mask first. You can't you can't give what you don't have. Yeah. I mean, it's we hear these things all the time. But we really to be with the person who's trying to spend their lives getting away from themselves. I'm sorry life is like it is because we really are honestly birthed to want to go to where this eternity is. And it's very understandable. I wish there was a place called away, and the truth is there is. But it's not here. Mhmm. It's there. And it's not now, it's some other day. It's with God. I mean, where it's no longer God with us, but us with God. This is Stephen James, the executive director of Sage Hill Counseling. Thanks for listening to the Sage Hill podcast with Dr. Chip Dodd. If you're interested in learning more about living from your heart, check out doctor Dodd's spiritual memoir on the beatitudes called The Perfect Loss, A Different Kind of Happiness. Also, if you're a therapist, a pastor, or professional that works with people, and you'd like to be better equipped to help people live fully, we invite you to learn more about Sage Hill Training. This in-depth experiential training will help you bring your heart to the work you are called to do. You can find out more by visiting sagehilltraining.com.