You have permission to relax.
It’s easy to forget that in the craziness of life. Your working hard towards your goals, raising kids, taking care of the house, exercising, trying to stay in touch with friends and family. It’s all great stuff and all totally worth doing! We get so caught up in all that we should or want to do that sometimes we forget to just breathe and be in the moment.
Any creative endeavor needs breath. It needs space and time to work its way out and to your brain. Why do you think we all say we have our best ideas in the shower? Or when we are doing a random task? It’s because we gave our brain a break!
You don’t need to be on some crazy creative journey to get permission to do this either. You have it just because you’re human. Its part of taking care of yourself. It’s a very necessary part of taking care of yourself. It’s also the best way to take care of others. If you are completely depleted, stressed, overwhelmed, trying to do it all, what happens to your ability to listen to someone else? What happens to your ability to really be there for someone? You can’t tell me it doesn’t go down significantly. When I’m depleted I’m short tempered and edgy. I know I’m not giving my best to my family, friends or my goals and thats when I know I need to take a break.
You need recharge time and the great part is you get to determine what that means. For some people recharging is going out with friends. For others, its sitting quietly reading a good book. It can be different each time! The important thing is to recognize when you need to recharge and make space to do it. It benefits everyone! I know how hard this can be to do when you have people relying on you. You have to utilize the time you do get. For me that means sometimes the dishes can wait a little longer while our girl naps so I can take a few minutes to myself.
Its a beautiful day outside today and I feel guilty not being outside enjoying it. I feel like there are a million things I should be doing right now (laundry, dishes, blog posts, emails) but at the same time, I’m fighting a cold. So while I could let that guilt eat at me, I’m choosing instead to enjoy a cup of tea while my daughter naps. I need to relax right now so I can be better for my family later. Its a small recharge but a much needed one.
So today in case you need reminding, you too have permission to relax. It’s Sunday the relax day people!