Do you remember that old McDonald’s jingle, “You deserve a break today”? I kept humming that to myself yesterday as a reminder that it really IS okay to take some time off once in awhile. 

 

Time Off

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Our lives are often ridiculously busy, especially during the warmer months. We host a monthly music and food truck event, weekly Music in the Park, a big music festival in August (with around 13,000 in attendance), plus a number of other events. David and I put a lot of time in on these so by this time of the year I am utterly exhausted.

We had an event Tuesday night and then David left early Wednesday morning on a business trip. I decided this was my opportunity for some time off.

There were a few things I actually would have liked to attend on Wednesday and Thursday. A live performance of Romeo and Juliet at the local university, a special movie, and church choir rehearsal – all of these I would have loved to attend. But I decided that what I truly needed was some downtime.

I did a few hours of my usual computer work for the blog and our foundation on Wednesday, as well as some laundry and basic household tasks. I also planned ahead to give myself Thursday “off”. For the most part, anyway.

 

I knew I didn’t want to just fritter the day away so I planned a few things:

• lunch alfresco
• Netflix
• stargazing

 

Lunch

Originally I thought about packing a lunch and driving to the Kullihoma Grounds Chickasaw Tribal Reserve. It’s just a few miles from us and there are picnic tables and a little creek running through it. Then I decided to just go sit by our pond instead. However, as I started to carry a chair and folding table down there I realized how high the grass was near the pond. David has simply been too busy to get all the mowing done (we have a LOT of area to mow) and I lost mowing privileges years ago when David came home just in time to see me zipping along, occasionally losing contact with the ground. He said something about the mower not being a go-cart. Whatever.

Anyway…I ended up eating my lunch on the porch which was really quite lovely. It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed my lunch plus a bit of time reading.

 

Netflix

We still get the Netflix DVDs because our internet isn’t all that great for streaming and because there are some things available on DVD that aren’t on streaming (namely, a lot of foreign films). We probably should let that go, however, because we just don’t seem to have the time to watch and the DVDs sit here for weeks, or even months.

Yesterday I made myself a cup of tea and watched the first episode of Home Fires. Have you seen it? It tells the story of some rather inspirational women in England during WWII. I loved it and am eager to watch the rest.

 

Stargazing

As you know, this is a favorite activity of mine. And yet I haven’t made much time for it the past several months. Soon it will be too cold so I want to make this a priority while it’s still warm.

Last night I poured myself a glass of whiskey, put on a light sweater and grabbed a light blanket, then headed out back to our sky watching spot. I put on one of my Spotify playlists and just sat there enjoying the starry sky. I even saw a shooting star!

Chris (our son) had gone to have dinner with Lisa and Justin (my daughter and son-in-law in case you’re new here) and when he returned around 10 p.m. he joined me for a little while. I also talked to David on the phone for a bit. But mostly I just enjoyed a quiet, relaxed time by myself.

 

Today, I’m back at my usual routine at home, a meeting in town and picking up cat food on my way home. David returned while I was in town and now we are packed and heading out for a Steely Dan concert late tonight. Tomorrow we are attending a dinner for the volunteer fire department David serves on and then going to a Halloween party. Yep, our busy schedule resumes! But at least I feel a bit rejuvenated after some downtime.

 

I’m going to be discussing the topic of self-care here on the blog in the weeks to come because I have come to believe it is so important. In fact, I am now putting personal time on my calendar as if it were an appointment. I have a day scheduled later this month when David is out of town again and I’m already plotting what to do with my time.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you make adequate time for yourself? If so, how do you make sure you get that time? If not, why not? Let’s discuss.

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