Something I have noticed is that life today seems to be jam packed with things to do, places to go, and people to see.
Every minute is booked or overbooked in most people’s schedules. Even with gadgets like online calendars it’s tough to keep track of everything.
My advice would be to make a little time for wonder. For walking around a lake, laying in the grass under a tree with a book, or simply watching the clouds roll by.
Such moments are like nourishment for a starving soul, and far too rare today. Quiet time for contemplation isn’t wasted time, it’s essential.
If you have children, encourage them to do so as well. Plan in downtime, so they learn not every minute needs to be filled with “something to do.”
If like me you were taught that every moment needed to be productive, try breaking free from that idea, and just “waste” some time now and then doing seemingly nothing.
Chances are (after you let go of the guilt) you’ll find life feels less frantic, your mind will stop spinning non-stop, and the rest of your hours will be more fruitful for taking some moments to simply relax, enjoy, and ponder.
Consider it busy life burnout prevention, if it helps.
What do you think? Do you find it hard to put life on pause? Please share in the comments.
Notes From a Red Pill Girl 
Rest is truly important. My thoughts on this were covered in a previous post.
https://sigmaframe.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/true-rest-and-worship
You have roughly 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of free time a day (three-three-three). If one of those three starts to get out of balance…then it starts to get overwhelming.
Oh look at the time, it’s 420
but in all seriousness, yes. Taking an occasional break from work or chore is important.
Lol GLA! You are funny!
This post was inspired by a book I have been reading “Country Chronicle” by Gladys Taber. Its written in 1974 when she would have been in her elder years, somewhat a memoir of life in an old country home she and her husband purchased with her former college roommate and her husband, with the intention of the women and their three children spending the summers there to escape New York city, where the two husbands worked. The two women dig the home out of years of neglect, restore it, join the community, start a huge garden, and then decide the country life suits them so well they end up living there year round for most of the rest of their lives. (I assume the husbands came on weekends but it really doesn’t say…) The kids grow up there then return year after year themselves with their own spouses and kids. She was quite a prolific writer, doing 59 books and cookbooks, plus writing columns for women’s magazines for years from the 1930s to the late 1960s. The book speaks to a more simple era, although even for Gladys the changes in the early 70s leave her perplexed and at times she talks about how all the magazines seem to write about is sex and that articles on housekeeping and parenting (which were her line) are nearly extinct. She sees the loss even then of the “modern” ways, and worries about the future of marriage, families, children, and society, very much seeing the problems to come. It’s interesting, kind of like reading about what life must have been like for my own grandmother who came of age shortly after the depression and lived a traditional farm life (minus the income from an outside job or the family money.) I think my grandmother too worried what lay ahead, and thought the sweeping cultural changes were like tossing the baby out with the bathwater. Interesting to think I was born right in the same timeframe, into this rapidly changing world. You can read more on Gladys here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_Taber..
Oh wait, now that I look at her wiki closer it looks like she and her husband divorced in 1946.That’s pretty unusual for the time, despite her quaint tales of country life. I wondered why the husband is rarely mentioned….
Looks like the other woman’s husband passed away in 1943… Ok, there is a story not being told here! Hummmm
A little more on the real Gladys…. I guess AWALT! Creating a persona that portrays the woman they in public want to be, while in private there is more to the story. In her books she says she “lost” her husband, not that they divorced. Not sure why this surprises me but it does! http://tjbanks927.blogspot.com/2012/08/conversations-with-gladys.html
I have to admit I am disappointed!
There is a new post at Spawny’s
https://spawnyspace.wordpress.com/2018/02/16/looking-for-mr-good-tingle/
I find it easy to distance myself from the busy-buzz of modern life, but I find it increasingly difficult to keep other people away from me. Something weird going on in today’s society…they see you alone, and they feel compelled to come over and invade your solitude. I think this is because people FEAR solitude. Most of my friends are terrified of being alone, even though they complain about the demands their kids and husbands make on their time and energy. What’s really sad is how this difficulty is finding some quiet place is extending to the countryside. I mean, the other day, i went walking in a COW PASTURE, a pasture that was a dozen miles from the county road. And two guys on ATVs appeared after awhile and wanted to chat me up, even though my body language was clearly screaming “Just leave me alone!” Curious times, these.
Oh, and I’m enjoying reading your blog….I’m a new reader, getting settled back into my hometown and it’s a comfort to read some sane stuff.
Welcome GracieB! Indeed I also have no trouble w alone time, it’s in short supply in this season of my life so I cherish it and also get annoyed when the outside world intrudes on those rare moments. Nitro ergs, so misunderstood! Lol.