Pulling out of the race
I found myself thinking last Friday about why Friday’s feel so light. My mood is usually elevated as is my outlook on most things. Yes, it’s the end of the work week and we’re heading into the weekend, but is there really relaxation on weekends? For us, weekends usually kick up a notch in busyness, albeit different busyness. Have we been conditioned to feel this way by the structure of our work and school weeks? In reality all of the same challenges and to-dos are still there, waiting for us on Monday morning.
It feels like on Fridays I start to pull out of the rat race. I’m not rushing as much as I am Monday through Thursday, even though all of the same schedules and routines need to occur that day. Is it an invisible force inviting me to take a longer breath between things?!
Speaking of the rat race, we’re all in it. Have you ever woken up Monday morning and thought “what happened to the weekend?!”. Or, at the end of a long week think “That happened on Monday? It feels like a year ago!”. We’re so busy with our to-dos, wish lists, extra activities for kids, play dates, date nights, etc. We just pack it all in thinking it will make us feel more fulfilled. The saying ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ can quite literally kill us. So what is the right amount of busy?
Sorry, a formula doesn’t exist. And, sorry again, you get to determine that.
I think the better approach is asking our heart and body what works best for us. F**k the external world telling us how to look, what to read, what our kids should be doing, how many friends we should have, how much sex we should be having, etc. We SHOULD ourselves to death, or at the least, massive disappointment and exhaustion. Can we PLEASE take a moment to ask ourselves WHAT WE WANT? What do WE feel is best?
Spoiler, it may not match what everyone else is doing or what society thinks we should be doing.
That’s why I love this quote by Rupi Kaur. “I will never have this version of me again. Let me slow down and be with her.” It can be a shock to read this. We’re letting moments, milestones and meaning pass us by because we’re running continuous laps in a race that never ends. What if we look up and around, instead? Pause and be, first, with ourselves by checking in and asking how we’re doing. Then, turning toward the moments and people that truly matter to us and being present with them.
While we joke that each day can feel like groundhog’s day, I invite you to slow down and start noticing how different each day truly is. Start picking up on subtleties you have not seen or experienced before. I think you may be surprised how different each moment truly is and how different you are in each moment. Slow down and be with you.
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