Two days into my summer break and I’ve wracked up hours at the dentist, long to-do lists, commitments I’m not excited about, and a stack of papers that makes me want to scream.
Is this any way to start a break?
Of course not.
Yet for as long as I can recall my summers begin like this – feeling stressed, behind, and already anticipating the end of my vacation before it has barely begun.
For some reason I find it difficult to let go of ‘busy-ness” and relax into the summer I always long for but rarely attain.
So today, in an attempt to break that pattern, I am doing nothing. Well, maybe not nothing, but nothing I don’t want to do. Wow -that’s a lot of negatives. Let me rephrase.
Today I am going to do exactly what I feel like doing.
I might finish this blogpost.
Or not.
I might answer a couple of emails.
I’m pretty sure I’ll go for a swim and water the garden once it cools down.
I’ll start a pitcher of cold-brewed coffee.
And read. Or meditate. Or ride my bike. Or take a yoga class.
Or just nap.
And I’ll enjoy every minute of what I choose to do or choose not to do without any feelings of guilt, pressure, ‘should have’ or ‘could have’.
If I want a summer that’s relaxing, creative, fulfilling, healthy, fun, then I owe it to myself to make the choices that will create that summer.
So excuse me while I turn off the computer, pour myself a cold drink, and do a little bit of nothing.