Needed Respites

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"Like it or not, the world evolves, priorities change, and so do you."  ~ Marilu Henner.

Do you ever need a pause, a break, or a respite from something? It certainly appears like I did! Sometimes, life gets in the way, and priorities change.  This happened to me ... In just over three short months, I was fortunate to travel to four amazing international destinations with various family and friends.  But also while building a new multigenerational home, facing some family health issues, and then, of course, the holidays.   I had a lot on my plate, and sadly, the writing priority fell by the wayside.  But things are calmer now, and I can reflect on my absence from writing and how I missed it with a new perspective on taking needed breaks from something.

As we all have experienced, it's challenging to do everything all the time. Circumstances, priorities, and even our ‘planned’ lives shift. It should be okay to let something go when other things fill our buckets. I had difficulty leaning into this as I started missing my self-imposed writing deadlines. But I knew I would question how good it was if I threw something together just to finish it, so I allowed myself to skip one.  Then two.  Then, yikes! It became four rather quickly!!

When our lives are busy, we feel like we are in the passenger seat, being taken from place to place, thing to thing, jumping out and handling whatever comes our way.  If we are lucky, we get a lovely, quiet evening at home before we return to the car, where it all starts again the next day. 

When my life is hectic, I somehow accomplish what needs to be done, but at a cost to my inner peace. I carry all of the ‘what I should be doing’ on my shoulders, which can become quite heavy over time.  During these past few months of busyness, however, I have begun to pay more attention to this weight.  I certainly don’t have the answers to alleviating it all, but paying attention, I believe, softens it.  When I ask myself how much this ‘thing’ really matters, placing it in the appropriate pile becomes more manageable – and most exciting is when it goes into the trash bin!

I am learning to focus more on my experiences with family and friends—on making memories rather than trudging through my days on autopilot. Hence, my recent international travel! Although I would probably avoid planning consecutive trips like that again, they freed me from the day-to-day obligations. And there is definitely something about our travel adventures that gives us a much-needed respite!

We are allowed to ditch our daily chores while traveling. And what a gift that is! It gives us time to recharge our batteries—well, as long as we don’t replace our daily chores with exhaustive travel activities and pile on so much that we miss the point of recharging!  There is something to be said about being away and letting the world at home go on without you.  It might also point out what we spend our time on while at home, and then the questions arise ... is it important? ... is it meaningful?  ... is it how I want to live my life?

Now that I have survived yet another milestone birthday, I ask myself those questions more often. It’s hard to spend every moment living your best life, but we can always pay better attention to what is happening around us. We always have a choice in what we do and what we think about.  Sometimes, those needed respites are just the ticket to reflect on our path and where we want to be.

Without these respites, we can quickly become stuck and never move to the driver’s seat. By taking a break and considering the big picture of our lives and what we truly desire, we can choose how and what to spend our precious time on.  Family, careers, relationships, hobbies, and making memories are all important, each becoming a priority at various times throughout our lives.  The tricky part is to navigate in and around them all to find the perfect balance throughout our days.  And knowing that it is okay to take a respite from any one of them to allow space for others to bloom.

When we take the time for an examination like this, we grow—inside and out. As we go through our daily motions, we understand more about what is important to us. We learn to cherish those beautiful parts. It allows us to reach that elusive perspective better.  A wider lens is always preferable to the trap of narrow vision. These respites will enable us to view the bigger picture and better understand who we are and where we want to be.

I have desperately missed my musings and look forward to prioritizing this again!  These writings certainly help me grow and nourish my soul.  I hope they provide a few nuggets for you as well.  Thank you for being so patient in waiting for my return.  I appreciate so many of you checking in on me to inquire about my absence in this blogging world!   

What do you need to take a respite from?

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