Are you using your days off wisely? Productively? Effectively? You’ve worked hard all week, given your attention and energy and precious time to a cause or company that helps pay your bills. And now, blissfully and deservedly, you have a day off. With these few hours of freedom, you have so much to accomplish! So many friends to see, so many chores to get done! So what do you do when the pressure of doing everything outweighs your desire to do nothing? Stop. Breathe. Reflect.
Make no mistake: the ‘hustle’ is very much en vogue right now. You might be aware of this if you’re the type of girl who owns a ‘Get Sh#t Done’ affirmation framed in your office. Our busy society has put an arbitrary necessity on filling every possible moment with accomplishment. Unlike many other cultures around the world, we have created an unhealthy myth that our weekends, our personal days off from work, or even our vacation days should be packed to the brim with plans and to-do-lists. That all of time should be productive. One look at Instagram and you can see most people are spending their vacation fixated on the perfect angle for a bikini selfie. So instead of sleeping in on Saturday, we’re waking up early to get our workout in, or spending all day Sunday doing laundry, working on our side business, and other tasks. While these responsibilities are surely essential, so is the time in which we do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Purely and totally nothing. Because nothing is actually something, and it’s something important.
We’ve all read the articles about stress’s impact on the body and mind. But the antidote is all around us, in moments to be present. Yes, doing absolutely nothing on your days off is actually good for you. Stop. Breathe. Reflect.
A happy mind is a centered one, one that takes time to stop the incessant messages of the ego and feel through the heart. In case you have trouble telling yourselfthis, let me tell you:
You definitively deserve to take time for quiet and stillness, smiling from the inside out. To sit in a chair staring into space, to lounge in the grass whenever you want. This deserved time has no pre-requisite. You don’t need to earn this by working all week at the office or making a lot of money. You do not need to hustle every other moment of the day in order to gain yourself a moment of pause. You have already earned this by being human, by being alive. You have already earned the right to stop, look around, and find a reason to be grateful and happy any damn time you want. And when you take those moments to lay in bed a few extra minutes, to stay in the hot shower a little longer, to skip a workout, to take time to really listen to another person when they speak, you will find that you enjoy every other part of the day even more richly and deeply-and that includes the chores. Stop. Breathe. Reflect.
For
a moment, forget the guilt of all that has to be done in the future, and all
that was done correctly or incorrectly in the past. Remember that time to
simply Be, to breathe in the air all around you and feel the sensation of being
alive right within your bones, right where you are, is a divine and beautiful
gift. Forgo the messages your mind is saying: “I have too much to do” “I do not
have time to do the things I love” “I am not living up to my potential if I
waste time”. The only moment you have is right now, and right now, you deserve
a mind free of stress, and full of love for beautiful, present Life.
Stop. Breathe. Reflect.