I am a planner. I enjoy to-do lists and researching options. Sometimes, though, my lists can feel overwhelming. Life can feel overwhelming. And I’ve found my first response is to want to check-out from the discomfort. This tends to come in the form of chocolate, a TV show, a good book, listening to music, etc.
Distractions.
I find that I focus most of my day externally – taking kids to school, preparing meals, teaching, cleaning…to-do-ing. The problem is, when I take a time-out from it all, even my time-out is external! Is that [handful of] Hershey’s kisses temporarily satisfying? Um, YES. (Side note: my daughter has called them ‘kissy treats’ since she was itty bitty — how cute is that??)
But what if – instead of timing-out, we choose to time-IN?
On a recent vacation, I had some truly amazing experiences that weren’t entangled with things that had to be accomplished. But there is a particular 90 minutes that made me distinguish the time-out option from the time-in.
I walked to the beach in my suit with a towel, book, and journal. I had planned to read first. (Naturally, I had a plan even for my relaxation time.) But when I sat down, I realized my body needed a moment of rest. You know that feeling when you’re so tired that your body feels like it’s being sucked into a vortex and you don’t even notice you’ve fallen asleep? That was me. Totally vortexed.
When I awoke 20 minutes later, I decided I’d like to swim. (When you have an almost-two-year-old that knows no fear, swimming solo doesn’t routinely happen.) Following a count to three, I dunked under and swiped salty water from my eyes as I popped back up. I let the waves carry me to shore, where I sat in the sand, literally picking it up in my hands and giggling as I watched it wash away in the water. It was playful and impulsive and exactly what I needed. Then I felt ready to read. After a chapter, I was filled with things to write, so out came my journal.
In those 90 minutes, I enjoyed letting every moment be its own; there was no attachment to a plan. No list to check things off from. I allowed myself to act from a place of spontaneity and enjoyment. Rather than check out from life and try to distract myself, I chose to stay aware of what I really needed and then I did that.
I felt more refreshed than ever.
Maybe the season of your life is begging you to slow down while you rush from one thing to the next. Maybe you really need meditation or deep stretching while you’re running and lifting weights. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier, or enjoy a piece of chocolate, or have a quality conversation with a close friend.
Are you aware of what you really, truly need to recharge? Most of the time, what we really need is not complicated or costly. We just need to make the time to focus internally, identify the best way for us to reset, and create space for that to happen.
Cheers to timing IN!
Love. Always.
Linds