How to Relax? Grab your to-do list.

How to relax? A very good question.

If you research that online, you would probably find a list of suggestions that often fall short because when we need to relax most, we are probably unaware of it. 
My daughter was five years old, she had her daily bedtime routine that starting around five pm, she would be in bed by seven pm. One time she was in her shower and I said to her, “Hurry up, Fay!” – she replied, “Why? I want to enjoy my shower time.” It hit me! Why are we always in a hurry? Why am I rushing her meal and shower so that she meets the routine? This little one of five had more wisdom in her than I could have anticipated. 

There will always be another bus

Again, when she was eight we were visiting the Vatican and we missed the bus. She felt my anxiousness and said, “Mom there will always be another bus”. It hit me again, harder this time. “There will always be another bus” is something I now live by.  

I am calling upon you all today from her perspective to slow down as there will always be another opportunity, another bus, another job, another train etc. Let’s slow down and enjoy the shower, think of the new bus coming as being our bus, because the one we missed was not ours. 

We still haven’t forgotten how the world almost came to a complete halt during Covid as if that was a higher message for everyone and everything to just “slow down”.
I look back at my corporate days and I wonder how time went by – the rarest thing we got on our hands that we often take for granted. I salute countries like Iceland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. They started implementing shorter work schedules and am looking forward to check their findings on overall fulfillment. 

Why are we in a hurry anyways? To make more money and buy more stuff we don’t need? To pay our credit cards that gave us access to more things we can’t afford? Ask yourself how many items you bought over the last six months that did not add any joy to your life, that you are equally ok without.

Let’s start looking for experiences

Let’s turn that chapter around and start looking for experiences. They are often cheaper and we can afford them even after we slow down. I cannot add to the list available online from breathing to hot baths to meditation etc. Today I am just asking you to slow down. How? 

Grab your to-do list

Ask yourself, “What’s important?” Start with items related to your self care on this list. Start there – with that dragging dentist appointment or overdue visit to Grandma. Start there and divide the list over three days, or why not four? Do less and be more. Enjoy that cup of coffee without the rush. Look at your food, smell it, think of the ingredients and their journey to your plate. Ask your senses how they feel. 

Take a ride and enjoy the new music you downloaded, just to enjoy the music and not just as background blare while being on your way to the grocery. Isn’t life just a ride too? Make it yours and find joy at a slower pace.