Reflections From a Seven Week Break from "Normal" Life

September 7, 2022

What will your patients say? What will people think? How can you do that? Should you do that? Good for you! Really, you're just leaving!?

These were some of the comments from this past spring as I shared that I would be taking time off for myself.

Besides three, three-week stints off in the last few years that I have taken (Africa, Cambodia, and to hike the Mont Blanc trek), I have diligently been in service to others.

Which is all fine and dandy. I would never change it or wish that things had been different for me. My life to this moment, has made me, well, me. I have been committed to my calling. Has life always been shiny? No. But there comes a time when one does need to remember that your life is just that…yours. Not to be confused with being a selfish person and not caring about others. That's not what I mean. It is the realization that it is your story at the end of the journey. And you dang well better have some chapters in there that involve doing things for yourself. In my humble opinion. That is my truth.

I am just finishing the seventh week already of that time away. It has moved quickly. I am at odds with myself about just how quickly time has moved. Scarily.

Here are some thoughts that come to mind as I reflect on the last seven weeks.

It is good just to take time for yourself. Most of my days have had zero schedule. I could drift to do whatever I was called to do.

I had the time to read again. Actual books. Not some article on an electronic device.

I had the time to write more again. I created two outlines for book ideas I have.

I had time to create the framework for a mini-course I have wanted to create under the umbrella of my website. This has been on the back burner for almost two years as life got in the way.

I had time to walk and stretch regularly.

I had afternoon naps on the hammock.

I ate simple meals that nourished me. I listened to my body. There are no drive-throughs here.

I went to bed when I was tired - sometimes 8 pm - and awoke when I was ready. No alarm to jar my beauty sleep!

I had a break from the constant stimulation of technology. The Internet is sketchy here with my internet provider. In fact, as an addendum to this fact, this blog is 2 days late because I couldn’t get a stable connection! 😊 Phone service is just as sketchy so most days, I talk to only myself.

I learned to always check my shoes before putting them on. There could be a frog in there. I learned to keep an eye on the ground as I walked. There could be a snake slithering across the ground. Or a lizard strolling across your path.

I communed with Mother Nature daily. That has been a game-changer for me. Watching all the critters around me doing their thing put me into a pensive state. They all make it look so easy. Existing. I doubt they feel stressed for the next moment. Why do we?

Getting back in tune with nature. Digging in the earth. Touching plants. Packing rocks. Touching trees. Swimming in the ocean. Being mesmerized by the sunsets. Watching the waves crashing on the rocks. Observing the tides, both high and low. Feeling the wind and the sun on my skin. Listening to the ocean.

What has struck me through this time is how irrelevant I am. The world has kept spinning. People carry on with their lives. As they should. Why wouldn’t they? My ego continues to melt away with the wisdom I gather as the months of my life calendar peel away. I am irrelevant.

That is okay. Maybe we are supposed to be irrelevant?

What a beautiful pause this has been for me. In a world where people are encouraged and applauded for being busy, there is value in the pause. The pause to pontificate. The pause to do nothing. In the nothing is progress.

Would I recommend this to you? You bet. If you can't do seven weeks, try a weekend. Or a week. Or a month. Or even a day.

Get lost in the nothingness so you can listen to what your body and heart are telling you.

Report back to me after you do and share your reflections with me!