Slow Down

“I lied and said I was busy. I was busy but not in a way most people understand. I was busy taking deeper breaths. I was busy silencing irrational thoughts. I was busy calming a racing heart. I was busy telling myself I’m okay. Sometimes this is my busy.”

B. Oakman

A friend and I were zooming about her anxiety and grief. She told me that she was struggling to find meaning in her life. Recently retired, she speculated that perhaps after decades of being mind numbingly busy, maybe this new season of rest was waking up all the skeletons in her closet.

Disruptions in our routines can do that. Many of our routines are actually created to keep us perpetually distracted, numb and out-of-touch with ourselves. This short term solution is attractive but over the long haul? Not great.

Productivity addiction is like those weird diets we fall in love with - attractive for the immediacy of the relief but inevitably we return to our pre-carrots-only diet weight. Too hard to think of slowing down? I know. I feel you. But let’s try.

Permission to Rest…

“You are worth the quiet moment. You are worth the deeper breath. You are worth the time it takes to slow down, be still, and rest.”

Morgan Harper Nichols

I miss pre-pandemic snow days. It’s tough to justify cancelling zoom meetings because the roads are too icy for safe travel.

We NEED snow days. We NEED breaks in our routine. We NEED unexpected quiet moments.

Why is it that we so often require an act of mother nature to give us permission to take better care of ourselves? Look around! Notice how all this productivity and efficiency is impacting our mental health!

Google the stats. So many people NOT taking all their vacation days - have we lost our marbles?

Boredom, wasting time, inefficiencies, these are all fertilizer for creativity.

In a world in search of so many solutions, my prayer is that I can remember the words of Jesus, who encouraged us in Matthew 11 to come to him and receive rest. If you, like me, need permission to take a break even though it FEELS like we shouldn’t need it - here is your permission slip.

Take a snow day. Or a personal health day. Or spend a vacation day...on you.