A Pause

Sometimes a pause is necessary, even if you think you should be doing something productive or fun and exciting. Last weekend was one of those times. Most of the time, I felt like I should be getting something done, but I didn’t have the energy. It's been a long few weeks for home and work.

Rainy afternoon pause

Rather than try to unsuccessfully channel some motivation, I finally decided to embrace my lethargy and let myself be. I did get the laundry washed, but folding still needs to be addressed. I read and dozed off, read and dozed off in a repetitive cycle. I moved from the back patio to my bed, then back outside again. The kids watched far too many bizarre YouTube videos and TV shows, but they had an easy down day as well. After starting back to school and the new swim season, they have been on the move almost constantly. While they thought they wanted to do “fun stuff”, it was good for them to have a few days to be bored at home and wear the same clothes for 48 hours straight.

Enjoy your favorite mug

While modern life places so much emphasis on productivity and efficiency, we are not machines, and rest is imperative to allow us to continue. Have you ever struggled to manically finish work, check off all the to-do lists, pack, and rush out the door, just to go on vacation and come down with a cold within a few hours of arriving at your destination? Our bodies and brains need down time and if we don’t provide the rest, it is usually created for us through illness or injury.

I’ve had a bit of a pause in my posting, primarily for the reasons of a busy season, general fatigue, and a lack of writing inspiration. I still have a tendency to fight this sense of inertia instead of letting myself float along, so I have about 10 single-sentence posts started and discarded. Maybe one day they will be just the spark I need, but right now, they are just blank white pages. I would be better served to spend a little more time not worrying about what and how much I am doing and just enjoy the scattered moments of down time.

Just five minutes!

Find five minutes today (OK, one minute if that’s all you can handle) where you can just pause and do absolutely nothing - and I mean nothing: no talking, no scrolling, no reading, no walking. It’s harder than it sounds! Take a pause and just see what happens.