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| A beautiful sunrise |
It’s a hectic pace, day after
day. The morning comes before the sun
even peeks its golden eye over the horizon and you feel like you’re running
from one thing to the next until you finally peel your clothes off and drop
exhausted into your bed. I know most
days that’s how I feel. There is
carpooling, helping kids with homework, our own work, maintaining a house,
kid’s activities, our own pursuits, and without our notice twenty-four hours is
sucked up and we’re left drained and still behind.
Okay, perhaps your day isn’t that busy, but still you’re active
building a life for your family and that comes with a certain set of pressures,
especially if you run your own business.
Before we know it, the work week is over and the weekend has
arrived. However, with everything we
cram into those two days, Saturday and Sunday fly by and without understanding
how, Monday has crept back upon us. Time
just seems to accelerate and all too soon, what we plan on doing becomes what
we should have done.
The past couple of days here at
The Mess, we’ve discussed how we need to take advantage of those small breaks
life hands us. Whether it’s a train
passing by or a child crawling up in our lap, we benefit by slowing down and
savoring the moment, getting the most out of the interruption as we can. However, we need more. We need to be able to press the pause button
on life. We need vacations, even if it’s
just a day and a night and we never even leave town.
When the boys were little, Char
and I took a page out of my parents’ book.
We escaped for the night, but never really went anywhere. We booked a room in a hotel across the
bridge, packed the boys’ bathing suits, some books and snacks, turned off the
cell phones and hid from the world.
While the boys swam in the pool, Char and I read our books, and all of
us forgot about work and paying bills. We
just enjoyed each other.
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| The lighthouse in St. Augustine |
My parents would do this every
once in awhile as I was growing up. My dad
owned his own subcontractor business and as the pressure would build, my mom
would book us a hotel and we would runaway without ever leaving town. The important thing wasn’t going anywhere,
just not allowing anyone to know where we were.
There were no phones. No one
knocked on our door. It was just
us. Everything was forgotten and we just
enjoyed being in the moment.
The girls and I did it just last
year for half a day. We drove to Daytona
Beach and walked the Boardwalk relishing being away from it all. We avoided the Interstate on the return trip,
deciding to explore Highway A1A instead, keeping the beach on our left. Troubles were forgotten for just awhile in
order for our batteries to be recharged.
These moments are vital for your
emotional and mental health. You must
press the pause button on life for at least a few hours and just breathe. Take a trip, but don’t go anywhere or drive a
state or two away for a weekend. The
main thing is to take your family and escape the world, even if only for an
afternoon. Go to the beach, a lake, even
a mall if you want, but go somewhere away from the To Dos at home and the pile
of bills that scream for attention from your desk. Turn off the phones, don’t worry about your
emails, and simply bask in the presence of those dearest to you. Laugh.
Share. Breathe. Pause. Only then will you have the stamina to finish
the journey.
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