stop. rest. return.
I spend a lot of time next to our dining room window.
I like to watch for different bird varieties to make an appearance in our yard.
If I am honest, I watch people too.
Now lest you imagine my face pressed to the glass a la Mrs. Kravitz, the nosy neighbor from Bewitched, mainly I am seated alternating between holding a mug of coffee or pen making list upon list or abandoning all to tap out sentences upon my trusted keyboard.
All this daily watching has revealed two important insights.
People aren’t running or jogging as quickly as I believe.
Since I hung up my running shoes in favor of walking, I tend to envision those who partake in this activity as on par with Olympians. This is far from the truth.
The majority of people who assume a pace other than walking aren’t sprinting or trying to break a world record. They are simply plodding along on the pavement marked before them.
Lately, I have decided to walk one mile per hour slower and to pay zero attention to how fast or far I walk. There is no need to hurry and create added stress to an activity known for decreasing it.
Our newest neighbors have been working extensively on their house since they arrived last spring. Most recently by hiring a woman to spruce up their yard. She arrived in a big black truck and over the course of a few weeks brought out the beauty in their landscape. Some days she worked a couple of hours and on other visits, a full day.
One day, she inspired me to deal with my neglected side yard.
Yet the biggest lesson I gleaned from her has nothing to do with gardening, it is how she works.
She labors hard weeding, clipping, pruning, hauling, and shoveling mulch.
From time to time, when I would leave my house to run an errand or happened to pass by the window,
I would see her sitting on her truck’s bumper with a water bottle in hand and munching on a snack.
I am a person who likes to work until the job or task is finished. I would rather put in demanding and long hours to achieve a sense of completion than to stop, rest and return.
My body, mind, and soul have been casualties of this practice. I have adopted this practice as my default mindset. I have been conditioned to believe this way of living is worthy, necessary, and even efficient.
Carl and I took time to retreat among the trees and the Oregon coast in early September.
We have been guilty of not stopping and resting so that we could return to our daily lives with more ease.
Once we were back home and unpacking our bags, we knew it would be tempting to stow away the rest we enjoyed as easily as our luggage. We have had to be intentional to slow down especially during time-compressed days.
I have realized there are decades worth of occasions when I shook my head at taking time to stop and rest. I would encounter hard patches and turn away in the direction of returning to the daily grind believing all was well without allowing my mind, body, or soul to slow down.
I am beginning to walk through my life one mile an hour slower.
I am learning to stop and rest in the midst of my labors before returning to the fast pace of life.
Where in your life, do you need to slow your cadence?
Do you practice taking time for stopping and resting before returning to the fray?
May you take time this week to reflect on whether your current pace is reasonable and manageable.
May you find patches of time to stop, rest and return with greater peace and energy and perspective.
