My Thoughts, Emotions, and Observations When Walking in Gatlinburg

In this article, I wanted to dig deep and really express to you how I feel when I am walking in Gatlinburg. As some of you already know from my previous posts where I am baring my soul, it’s been quite an emotional journey from Ohio to Tennessee. We made some brutal mistakes, learned valuable lessons, and fortuitously ended up here in Gatlinburg. Why? We never gave up. My thoughts always held firm that one day we would indeed find ourselves here, despite how impossible it seemed.

For 13 years, this was our happy place as tourists, but I never really understood the power it had on me until it felt like I had it all to myself. Those first few years I didn’t fully grasp certain aspects of our regular vacation spot. Everything that made me happy was like a sugar high. It was exciting in the moment, but there was a crash. But it made me want more. There wasn’t anything deeper, other than going back for that shot of adrenaline.

I don’t remember the exact year or Gatlinburg trip number when it all changed for me, but I do remember the moments where it became much more than just a flickering light on my middling, tedious existence that was a roller coaster of ups an downs, eventually steadily trickling downward with no signs of pulling up. Yeah, it’s life, but once those spiritual spotlights surrounded me, there was no turning back—I couldn’t shut them off.