I got home from Mom2.0 a week ago. Sean said, “You need to move quickly. Don’t let your Iris win fall to the wayside. Allow it to catapult you into whatever it is you want to do.”I nodded dutifully. I wasn’t going to rest on my laurels, I was going to charge ahead and let myself build upon the idea that my words have an impact and a purpose. I really was going to, but then the realities of the laundry situation hit home, the continued aftershocks of some things that happened at work, school concerts, texts about the dog, “Having a huge disgusting tick where his eyebrows would be if he had eyebrows,” and the whole feeding a family, and managing the rampant cases of poison ivy that three of us are suffering from in ways that are not diminishing.

I have posts dancing in my head, emails that I want to write, and mileage that I want to achieve through the catharsis that I find in writing. No matter how many lists I make, incentives I create for myself, or other tricks, the end of the day feels like it’s kissing my tail before I’ve even finished my lunch. I am grateful that I haven’t retreated into my place of panic, where I lash out and take on an attitude of hopelessness. Because it’s a rut I know well, a forwarding address even, but no, I kept it at bay.
Actually, this whole post is to share with you a moment that I had. I was in my bedroom, a place that I have slowly done things to to make it feel more like an oasis, but is still very much a work in progress (<—-gentle disclaimer, but also read the subtext: no one has it all together.) Anyway, I had a bona fide Oprah–level, aha moment and I wanted to share it with you.
When you watch this video you might think, “Is she whispering? Is she drunk?” The answer would be yes and kind of. I was whispering, and that is because I genuinely believed if I said any of this stuff out loud I would get some sort of zap from the universe for sitting on my duff. As far as being drunk. I think that the sensation of doing nothing was legitimately intoxicating. Also, I think sometimes when you actually slow down you become aware of just how exhausted you really are. In any case, if I can do one thing for those other people out there trying to do more than they would ever believe another person could do, it’s to have you hear me say, “Doing nothing is important.”
Do you do nothing? Where is your favorite place to do nothing? If you have never done nothing, promise me right now you will do nothing and you will come back and tell me all about how amazing it was?
Deal?
I very rarely do nothing. It feels like cheating, and I know that sounds silly. Sigh.
Get on that stat!
Same, but when I do plop down somewhere it’s true, you don’t always recognize what your body has been asking for.
That’s it!
Doing nothing is almost anxiety inducing. So used to the daily grind that it’s almost uncomfortable to do nothing. Doing nothing physically is entirely different from doing nothing mentally. I want to learn to do nothing mentally!
I get it, but having watched you at school and places like lax practice, you get done whatever needs getting done. We need to acknowledge that we are a part of that mix and to not do that deprives everyone. You will get there. We just need to be slightly more transparent about the struggles and the triumphs, little though they may be.
Oh WOW. Nope, I haven’t gotten here yet but I will, I should, I need to. Every minute must be accounted for in my frantic brain. Guilt over laundry forever unfolded, dishes to be loaded, dinner to be figured out, etc. But choosing to lie down instead, beneath shifting sunlight, with two sleepy cats no less – really, we should all take some cues from cats – sounds incredible and a little rebellious. Sign me up.
🙂
Please try. Although I have to own the fact that there was nothing deliberate about this. I surprised myself, and the cats if I’m being honest, and it was divine. xo
Does a Netflix count as nothing? I’ve done plenty of those and really it feels like nothing at the end!
Sure… I think it’s really the harmony of mind and body at rest—truly at rest.