When You Need a Rest Stop

 

Sometimes we need rest stops.  Even though we might be within an hour of home, and we think we can make it...the better part of wisdom tells us to stop the bus and give everyone a five-minute break (you know, because if you give them five minutes they'll actually be back in ten, which is what you want anyway).

You take those few minutes to race through the necessities, leaving as much time as possible to enjoy the whimsy of the thick (by south Texas standards) grove of trees, and keep an eye out to see if there are any bright purple wildflowers close enough to photograph.  (There aren't, so you just keep enjoying them from the bus window when you're on the road again.)

Well, today was a rest stop day for me.  I needed a low-energy, low-pressure day.  You know what that's like, right?  A day to do what feels relaxing and rejuvenating, a day to be, to enjoy a space of quiet in the midst of whatever else life might be throwing your way?

It's hard work to give myself permission to have a day like that, but you know what?  At the end of today, one of the few times I've allowed myself a rest stop day, I'm immensely grateful I stopped being my own taskmaster and allowed myself some much-needed time to just be.

So can I give you that permission too?  Permission to slow down, to rest, to clear the to-do list of those things that feel like pressure and make room for those things that feel like enrichment?  Maybe for yourself, or maybe for someone you love?

Because we all need rest stops sometimes, even when we might be awfully close to the finish line.