SLOW DOWN
Over the past week, slowing down has been forced upon our household and truthfully, we needed it desperately.
Not only did I get sick, but last week my husband was given some health news that rattled us, to say the least.
All of this was brought on by extreme stress in our lives and I'm here to say, it wasn't worth it.
In the past few months we've worked endlessly moving to a new house, moving his mom (again), first to a hospital, nursing home, here for only 2 days, back to a hospital and now she's in her long-term care home and all while taking care of a full time job, family, and all the normal life things that come up.
What it resulted in was my husband being barely able to walk and me breaking out in hives, due to stress.
We've been at home together this week and though it hasn't been a vacation, by any means, it has been a great wake-up call for both of us.
We need to slow down.
For years now, my husband has had a very stressful job. Much of this is due to his own personality, which is that he works with extreme excellence and basically kills himself doing it. As a result, the stress has finally caught up with his body.
I've been telling him for years (so have the kids), that he needs to slow down, relax, find the joy in his daily work and not push himself so hard. But you know how those conversations go...agreement and then back to the daily grind.
Well, sometimes I think the Lord says "Enough!" and does the slowing down for us. Such is the time we're currently in now.
SLOW DOWN
Over the years, I've compared our lives to others, but not in the way of envy over things, stuff, or vacations. It's been more of a realization when looking around, that other people have more fun than we do. We tend to mostly work.
We've always bought houses that were in need of fixing up. Why? Well, we used to like that sort of thing, but what it amounted to was working all week, only to have to work on the house over the weekends.
As my husband's job got more stressful, he didn't even have the physical energy to work around the house anymore, but that also left little energy for play time either.
What I've realized over the years is that we don't really play in life anymore. We don't travel, we don't have friends over the way we used to, we don't really have outside hobbies anymore and that is not ok.
None of that is ok.
There was recently an article in Reader's Digest that talks about why hobbies are so powerful in our lives and I wholeheartedly agree. Hobbies give your mind a break. They give you joy and let your creativity come out, which is extremely healthy for your brain. Hobbies and creative endeavors are vital to mental health.
So is connection with other people.
A friend and I were talking at church one day about this season of life we're in and how we don't visit like we used to. When we were younger, we all got together several times a month and just shared a meal in our homes, with all the kids running around like crazy. Those were special times and hold dear memories.
Now we all seem too busy to get together and yet, we both expressed how lonely that feels. The irony.
SLOW DOWN
David and I have had a lot of time to talk this week about slowing down and how it's going to make a difference, from here on out. We've got to do it.
No job is worth your health. It's just not.
Working with excellence can still be done, but with healthy boundaries set in place to protect your body, mind and soul.
Connecting with friends is a must too. We need to get back to relaxing enough to enjoy the people in our lives.
And doing more fun things together. Whether he goes outside and works on his old jeep (total hobby) or we take a weekend trip to see family or go antiquing or just get away for the day.
When did we stop doing those things and why? Was it worth it?
I can tell you...no...it wasn't.
I felt like sharing this today because I know we can't be the only ones grinding away at life. I know there are those out there who work hard and don't play anymore. And I want more for all of you!
I think they call stress "the silent killer" (or maybe that's something else, but you get the idea). Stress is one of those things that will slowly chip away at your health, until it's no longer hiding, but right in your face, screaming at you.
Well, we hear you! And we're heeding the call to slow down.
Life perspective changes as you get older. The really important things tend to become more clear and the frivolous things you used to think were important, become all the more clearer too.
That's where we are. And I'm giving thanks for God reminding us of what's worth tending to.
Thanks for listening.
Until Next Time...
Blessings!
