I looked at my cute kitty calendar the other day and a date caught my eye. February 29th. 2012 may be a leap year, but I haven't been doing much leaping. I kept looking inside to see why this was, but each time I confronted a void. This is so unlike me. I am usually propelled forward (or yanked along) by some huge life goal, but now there's just nothing, and it's not a negative nothing...just nothing. To quote Jack Skellington, "What is this?!"
Then, yesterday, the unthinkable happened. I went to work and accidentally left my iPhone (a.k.a. miracle device that keeps Fionna from going insane while doing hours upon hours of mundane housekeeping tasks) at home. To intensify the experience, the family I work for was out for the day. Five hours of silent contemplation later, I had some of the answers I had been looking for.
So, why have I been surfing the channels instead of the audition listings? I think I simply want an easy life. I do so much and push myself so hard to be perfect that I often daydream about what it would be like to relax on the couch with a cup of coffee. "Relax." What does that word even mean? I get antsy just thinking about it. The only time I "relax" is when I'm too sick or tired to move. Hmmm...having just reread that last statement, I am seeing a problem here.
Resting, both physically and mentally, is essential if we want to achieve optimum performance in this thing called life. We need to tune up our cars and defrag our hard drives periodically. The same goes for us. The problem is, when we have downtime, we don't usually rest. Just take the typical American family vacation, for example. Who has time to recharge when the kids are screaming in the backseat and you are fighting with your husband over whether or not you're lost. On my day off from housekeeping, I usually find myself cleaning my own house top to bottom. This has to end. I need rest, and, more importantly, I need not feel bad about allowing myself to have it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make some coffee.
