I’ve always been a workaholic who has always believed that if you are not productive 120 percent of the time you’re a slacker. And to top it off, productive for the most part has meant being “mind productive” and not “physically productive.” After reading that a lot of you are probably going, what the heck is she talking about. Well, simply put I’ve always valued writing, reading, calculating, and those types of “mind” activities over physical activities like cleaning the house and exercising. If I wasn’t involved in “mind” activities, I’ve been on the go traveling, running to the store, etc., etc. etc. I’d never learned how blissful puttering around the house can actually be.
Working for a Japanese company means that I have a winter break from 12/24 through 1/4 this year and after finishing our last minute Christmas shopping on the 24th, I’ve been spending the last few days puttering. I’ve slept late, I’ve washed dishes, I’ve taken naps, in short I’ve just let my body adjust to a slower pace and I’m amazed at how rested I feel. We also got a Wii Fit for Christmas and we’re all taking turns playing and I’m amazed at how much fun it is and how much of a workout I get playing on that video game. It also tracks the time you’ve spent on it and lets you compete against one another. I’m an expert hula hooper, but I am totally uncoordinated and klutzy when it comes to the step dancing.
I went into Winter Break with a long to do list of things I wanted to accomplish for my business, my job, and around the house and I haven’t accomplished a whole lot of them yet. The weird thing is that in years past if I hadn’t trucked through my to do list in record time, I would have felt guilty and as if I was a slacker, but this year I’m realizing that I need this downtime to recharge my batteries and to get ready for the year ahead. The things that really need to get done will get done eventually, but if they don’t get done today the world is not going to come to an end.
Although we’ve gone out to run the errands that have needed to be run, but we’ve spent a lot of time cocooned in the house just chilling out, watching TV, playing with the WII, and enjoying each other’s company. We’ve watched movies together, we’ve played games together, and we’ve eaten dinner together. I’m relishing this year because I know that it won’t be too much longer before it will be just John and I alone for the holidays.
Cairn by Cairn 