Taking a 10 minute walk is a great way to recharge
I took four days off at Thanksgiving time. Four days!!!! For those of you who know me well that is an absolute miracle. But I really needed those days away from work.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my work but it is fraught with hard things. I have to run a business and all that that entails – many things I just do not know how to do and am just learning. I have to work with technology that is often baffling to me. I have a blog to write and mentees to talk with. Then there are presentations to prepare and give. I sometimes just need to reboot! So to speak.
So what do you think I did for the two days after Thanksgiving? I cleaned like a crazy fool. I rearranged both my kitchen closets. I mopped and moved furniture and scrubbed and….. I know this doesn’t sound like much of a vacation to many of you out there. But I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to just do something so normal, that I am totally familiar with and very good at.
Crazy I know, but cleaning recharges me!
I did think that I might be the only woman in the world who would opt for cleaning as a way of rebooting, of recharging. Then I read an email from a mentor of mine, Leslie Householder. She said this “In my rebellious moments, I derived tremendous pleasure out of cleaning a toilet, or reorganizing a cupboard.”
Then Tuesday I read this on The Pioneer Woman – “Looking at the calendar, I keep trying to schedule a break. I want to go shopping with my Mother. I want to have lunch with a new friend in Houston. I want to get back to walking in the morning. I want to teach my children how to clean a toilet…”
Now many of you who are still in the trenches with a house full of kids, piles of laundry, dishes to do and owies to kiss may be thinking that no way would cleaning toilets or shopping, for that matter, refuel you.
The point I am trying to make is that the humdrum work of every day, both in and out of a home, can really get to you after a time. So it is really important to know what recharges your tank. Is it a late night hot bath, a good read, taking a walk, calling a friend, getting out of the house for an hour, a date, someone else cooking dinner, or cleaning a toilet?
Find ways to take regular, short breaks
In my parenting workshop I had a mom say that she just didn’t know what would recharge her. I could relate! I had been stuck in that same place just a short time before the workshop; all the things that used to work weren’t working anymore. So I did what I usually do when I am stumped for an answer to something. I asked my Heavenly Father. The answer that I got surprised me. It went something like this, “Take more breaks. Play music while you work. When it is really getting to you take a 10 minute walk.” Simple isn’t it and this from an unfailable source.
Most of us cannot take a four day break on any kind of regular basis. In fact most of us don’t know how we can take even a 10 minute break. However, it is important to find simple ways to recharge.
A few weeks ago I had been at the computer for many hours writing and learning how to do what still baffles me. I hadn’t taken any breaks except to hit the bathroom. My neck was beginning to hurt. I began to have some angry feelings build up. I felt stressed! The bad thing was that Don was due home in about an hour and you can imagine the end to this story…. except, I took Heavenly Fathers advice. I stopped! I took a ten minute walk. When I came home I put on some great music and had a glass of water. Then I went back to work. It was amazing to me how much better I felt and how much I was still able to do. I was also aware that I had derailed some angry, frustrated feelings that were going to leak out onto my unsuspecting husband!
If we take the time to know what recharges us and then take regular, short breaks we will feel less stress, less frustration; we will be happier, our children will be happier and life will just plain feel better.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Self Care for Better Parenting – Part 2
- Self Care for Better Parenting – Part 1
- Our Stories Shape Our Lives – Part 2
- Our Stories Shape Our Lives!!
- Choose To Let Go Of Suffering
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Music soothes the beast. Thank you for this glorious reminder:)