This is one of those posts that will certainly fall under the to be continued category.
Do you ever struggle to find some peace in your busy week? Even if you do take time off, do you ever find yourself feeling guilty, or maybe anxious, unable to really fully remain present enough to enjoy the time? Do you ever find yourself with friends or family physically, but your mind has a hard time settling down because there must be something that you “should” be doing?
I have and do have all of these situations. Why do I say this will be continued? I have been studying time, creating my life, being efficient, enjoying life- you name it- for years. I AM getting better at time off. In fact, I have come a REALLY long way. From the years when I sold real estate and never took a day off, and woke in the night wondering and worrying about what I might have forgotten, to today when I draw boundaries around my time and create buffers around a lot things- I look a world better. AND I feel a world better.
Lately, though, I have been intrigued by the idea of creating an old fashioned Sabbath style day in my life. Even though I have done a better job being intentional with my time, I realized that there wasn’t a day in my week that I didn’t have at least one obligation. Not one totally clear day in life to do whatever I want to do- including..wait for it…to do nothing!
I picked up the book An Oasis in Time by Marilyn Paul for guidance and inspiration and I am just getting to the designing your day part. Honestly the book sat in my to be read pile for over 6 months before I started to read it. Even so, I had begun to consider the concept and began to make changes. I knew that I had to have at least one day without an obligation and that began my first focus. I decided after several years of teaching yoga at 9:30 every Sunday morning- something I had treasured doing- to let someone else have their opportunity at that spot. (While I was at it, I released the other class I taught each week on Thursday morning, gaining one more morning to drive our son to school, time I treasure with him. A few weeks ago he got his drivers permit and it will not be long before I will lose that privilege altogether, and it is something I want to savor.)
So far, I have blank slate of a day to fill. I haven’t fully developed what my day will be like yet, but I have decided on a few things. On Sunday I will not be on social media of any type and I will not log into email.This morning I was on Instagram for 5 minutes before I remembered! There will be no work. (As I write this, it is Sunday and this might look like work, but writing and sharing is on my enjoy list and I don’t take as much time for it as I would like.)
I know people are worried about missing opportunities and maybe business. I used to be. I have done a lot of personal development work with myself over the years in the areas of abundance thinking and fomo to jomo- fear of missing out to joy of missing out. There is a lot of trust building involved, and really we are programmed to fear missing out on something- I was knee deep in it for most of my life. It is like a new life not feeling I need to be everywhere and not feeling badly finding out later about something I missed. I think this work has set me up to be ready to hop off the device whirlwind for a day.
My day will for sure entail a mixture of these things:
Extended prayer and meditation time.
A big chunk of time in nature- walking and just sitting and enjoying.
Reading for enjoyment, and writing in my journal.
Multiple dog walks. (My dogs really like this Oasis day idea!)
Reading magazines. (I love magazines and buy them, but they stack up unread because of the voice in my head that always tells me I am wasting time when I could and should be reading a book- or doing any number of other things.)
Unhurried meals with my family, long chats with our daughter and with other friends, especially impromptu. Imagine the phone ringing and answering the phone for a relaxed, unplanned talk.
Watching movies, tv shows, etc with my family.
It will be a mixture of alone time and time with others In either case I will be relaxed and present.
At the end of the day I will do my planning for the week, marking the end of the day.
These are my current ideas, and I am looking forward seeing how this all unfold as I continue to read the book and develop my Sabbath/Oasis day. Stay tuned!