The sky is blue, the clouds are airy and the sun is shining. That makes for a pretty good day here in Upstate, New York. As I write this, The temperture is 19 degrees and going down to three degrees overnight. The windchill? Well that is whole different ball game. I am getting tired of bundling up in winter clothing just to take the dog out for a quickie. Damn – I wasn’t going to complain. Let me try again…
The sky is blue, the clouds are airy and the sun is shinging. Life is good here in Upstate, New York.
I have been home for about a month and have had more had downtime than ever before. I am surprised that I haven’t been anxious as that is what tends to happen to me when I have too much time on my hands. The days are zipping by and I plan on leaving in a few days to return to sunny Florida and Mother Fran.
I keep looking back over the past month to figure out why my anxiety hasn’t kicked into full gear. I think it is because I scheduled the little things into my day to make sure they happened and consequently, it never seemed like I had nothing to do. Over the past month, I managed to knock a few things off of my to do list and that always feels good.
I managed to get my 10,000 steps in every day. I have been playing a lot of tennis, ping pong, bowling and sword fighting on the Wii to make this happen. Plus some nice walks on the nature path by my house.
I completed my 36 CEU’s (Continueing Education Credits) so I can renew my Occupational Therapy certification. I completed a six hour Defensive Driving Course and saved roughly $185 over the next three years. I took Fenway for laser treatment appointments every other day for a compressed disc in her back. I learned how to use my sister’s new snow blower and I posted 5x on My Little Blue Kayak.
I learned how to create invoies on my new accounting program and managed to record a few transactions for my new business. I am not a numbers person and am psyched that I figured out a few things. I worked a grand total of 10 hours all month so there weren’t many transactions to figure out!
It is weird but chunks of downtime can be just as stressful as being super crazy busy. I feel the need to be busy, to be productive and to justify my actions to myself and apparently to everyone who reads this blog!
I belong to a few Facebook groups and have been seeing how so many people are currently out of work and home for the first time in years. I know it is hard not to panic when money isn’t coming in like it usually does, but this is a great time to be with loved ones, to pursue things you always wanted to do or used to love. We are so used to being superbusy that when we get some time on our hands we either want to collapse on the couch or just cross off more items on our to do list.
If you find yourself with more downtime than you are accustomed to, here is a piece of advice. Breath. Yup, just breathe. Nap, lounge in bed with your honey. Listen to some music and dance. Color, work on a puzzle, play a game. Meditate, read a book, and stare at the beautiful blue sky. I managed to do all of this over the past month as well! It was a really nice month to be home and I am glad I got to spend it with my honey.
I started this post feeling the need to justify my actions to myself over how I have spent the last month of relative down time. I ended this post reminding myself that it is ok to simply relax and enjoy life. Writing this blog really does keep me sane… I am learning not to beat myself up for taking it easy!
If you have time on your hands because of a change in your employment status, remember to schedule some fun along with all those responsibilities.
Lake Girl
Great post! In our era, work was the remedy for everything. I, too, need to remind myself that it’s okay to just have fun, and even have a bit of time to do nothing. “Nothing” is probably different for each of us. But, when I find it, it sure is fun!
Thanks