Time Out
Last week, while counting down the days till Bank Holiday Weekend, planning what to do, who to see, how to get there and when would be the best time to travel, I realised that throughout those three days, I didn’t have a moment to spare. A moment for me. A moment to be quiet. To stop.
It was on Monday evening, while I was brushing the hay from my hair (I’d been to Sherborne Castle Country Fair – not that this is an excuse, I honestly don’t know how the hay got to be in my hair!) that I decided to stop. To grab one of those face masks I buy in Sainsburys and to actually sit down and take the time to indulge myself.
So between the piles of clean washing and drying neatly piled on the bed, I blew the dust from the sachet and smeared the sticky mixture onto my face. What a relief. The heavenly honey scent created a sense of calm and luxury, that otherwise was lacking from my life and it was in that moment that I vowed to try and make some time for myself each and every day.
Be that an extra few moments in the bathroom using some of the lotions and potions I buy myself with the very best intentions of using, or be that a few moments in the car before heading to work or home. Or possibly I could fit it in during my lunchbreak, or perhaps whilst washing the dishes, or hanging up the neverending cycle of washing… the more I tried to find time, the harder it felt and the more it feels as though this too is part of my daily chores. Or if I managed to syphon a minute or two for meditation from my day, I found that it would be rudely interrupted by the list of errands still to do or alarm bells for meetings I had to be at. So, I realised, maybe I was overcomplicating this, overthinking and instead I should get out of my head, out of my house and into nature…
The minute I hopped out of the car and started heading into the direction of fields and gorgeous sumptuous greenery, I felt as though a whole new lease on life had been granted to my aching body. Moving strongly and powerfully through the long tall grass and I took the time to marvel at the sun hazily shining through the leaves, creating a slightly dappled effect on the field as though the light was dancing on the pasture. What a world away from my living room, my kitchen, my office, filled with mounds of to-do lists and things to be cleaned.
Breathe. I told myself. Breathe more, breathe deeper, breathe happily.
Run, I heard myself urge me on, and so taking a quick look around me, I broke into a slightly awkward trot, that morphed into what can only be described as a gallop. What a feeling! I found myself laughing – how silly must I look I thought! What a feeling of freedom! I don’t care said another right back at it.
It is so seldom that we get to misbehave or indeed have fun. As we grow, we forget the importance of play, and infact how to play! It is only when we allow ourselves and give ourselves the permission to be silly that this euphoric feeling of wild abandoment crashes over us and we don’t know what to do with it. But oh! What a feeling! One that has certainly rejuvenated my soul (and I’m sure the farmer had a funny old time watching a lady and her dog galloping around the nature trail!)
I certainly urge you if you are of the city sort, working and spending most of your time staring at a screen and on your bottom; get out! Get on a bus, explore. Find a train to somewhere you’ve never been. Or get in your car and find something beautiful to marvel at. Get on your bike and pedal, pedal, pedal until your little legs can’t take it. Sometimes being mindful and finding time for yourself to breathe, means taking yourself out of your current surroundings and breathing in a new air.
Enjoy exploring, breathing and playing! Reignite that spirit and passion and find that little child within.
