The Sniper Inside You

Well, well, well… It’s a sunny Tuesday here and the clouds are popping along in their beauty.  As children, many of us may have been told “idle hands are the devil’s workshop”, or other comments such as these.

In our language, we feel best when we’re “doing” something.  Doing, working on, staying on top of, catching up, running behind, running around, figuring out, putting together, fixing, moving, etc. etc… You know the drill.  It’s almost a badge of honor for others to say, “You’re always so busy.”  Our American lifestyle also lends itself to that, as well.  We’re one of many Westernized nations that has, on average, some of the least amount of vacation time for its workers.  Other countries (like those in Scandinavia, for instance), consider the balance of their workers to be of the utmost health to the nation as a whole.  (But then again, they also have nationalized health care and education, but that’s another story…)

We’ve become a nation of Bluetooth-wearing, Blackberry using, cell phones on waist, navigation systems in car, water toting Do-ers.  In our doing is our strength…or so we like to think.  We feel GREAT when we accomplish something. We feel strong.  We feel empowered.  We feel *insert chest thump* Look at ME!!!   …And we pass it along to our children.

As one who works with high school and middle school age students, I’ve seen it firsthand.  Overscheduled, over-hobbied, over electronicized (yes, I made up a word)…because we want to make sure that they get a head up on others for college.  Because we want them to get a better score on their SATs.  Because we want them to do well on their ACTs.  …And the list goes on and on.

Besides becoming a nation of burnout at a younger and younger age (have you spoken with a high school senior lately?), we’ve started to lose the ability to just “be”.  I, for one, am one of those that has a lot of energy….I’m a chronic fidgeter.  Be that as it may, you can be SURE that for me to rest is one of those moments where my BODY decides to just take me down.  Literally.  “Okay…she’s not gonna do it….Eyelids?  Commence drooping.”

“Roger that, Cerebral Command…We have drooping.  Again, Red Eagle to Cerebral Command, drooping commenced.”

“Spinal Center, register dropdown, over.”

“Spinal Center to Brain Center, we have dropdown.  Dropdown impending in 3..2…1. Dropdown successful! We are supine! We are supine!! Sparrow Hawk 24 is now supine!”

*raucous applause from Cerebral Center and its bases*

….But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.  Here I am, right now, at 5:15pm EST, and I’m tired as all get out.  I’ve been working 14 hour plus days with less than 5 hours of sleep on a body that is feeling very weary.  And even as I’m writing, I know I don’t want to lay down.  Perhaps it’s the child in me, but I feel like that 4 year old who KNOWS they need to rest but just doesn’t want to…miss anything.

And there’s the rub.

Being in the moment, allowing ourselves to rest, allowing ourselves a time to be leisurely is important.  I recently made a shift in putting my health -mental, physical and emotional- as a priority in my life.  No more energy vampires (you may remember from last week’s show), no more saying “Yes” when I very well KNOW my answer within is “hecky NO”!  And even the tiredness I feel, I know I couldn’t get out of it (working is inevitable), but I did decide to use the additional moments I had on subsequent days to actually rest, to recharge.

Recharge.  How often do we allow ourselves to do it?  I mean, there’s even a guilty pleasure in it.  “What are you doing?”  “Nothing.”  Oh! The horror!

Egads…but there’s the strength in it.  Doing nothing, merely BE-ING, is beautiful.  To rest.  To look at the clouds. To find the shapes in them. To watch an anthill.  Or hell, watch construction workers putting something together.  Taking a bath merely for the warm bath properties as you read magazines.  Going for a walk.  Going to a store merely to look at something pretty.  Talking with friends simply because you want to, not because you have an agenda.

Being is as important as Doing in our daily lives, but all of us must remember to listen to our own needs first…Just as the airline instructions say, put the oxygen mask on yourself, then on other loved ones. 

We can’t give to others what we haven’t given to ourselves.  And giving of ourselves, from the most centered, most loving, most kind, most rested space, is the best gift we can give.

And the best gift we can give to ourselves from love. 

(But then again…even if you choose otherwise, your Cerebral Command Center will take you down anyway.  So might as well do what you need to do.  Rest. Be. Feel. Embrace. Relax.  And repeat.)

Add a comment July 1, 2008