Hello beautiful letterpress calendar that will be a perfect addition to my 2010 calendar wall!
This lovely little thing is from One Canoe Two and you can get yours right here! Guess which month is my favorite?
{via poppytalk}
And since it’s Tuesday … and I really like finding unexpected gifts in the ordinary … I thought I would use this post to unwrap a gift.
It’s a gift I’m still trying to accept myself. Giving it to myself is one thing … but accepting it is a whole other process! You’ll see what I mean in a minute …
The gift? Time. Time for yourself.
Who in the world has time in today’s world, to give this gift to themselves? Not me! Even with the sale of a business and all four kids in school.
What the heck? How did my calendar get so jammed packed? What happened to my dreams of working my way through the stack of books I’ve been collecting? Or getting deeper and spending more time in God’s word? Or taking walks with my husband {who works from home}? Organizing my recipes, my photos … the list goes on and on …
In one way, because I have so many expectations of myself, I feel like I’m spinning my wheels harder than I was before.
About the only things I have fulfilled are lunches & coffees with friends. Lots of them. But quite honestly, that’s been hard too. Not in a bad way {and friends, PLEASE don’t take this wrong!!}, but just that I don’t always have time.
The thing is though … with me not “working” anymore. I feel horrible saying I don’t have time. But that’s my own fault. They don’t know that I have four sessions to edit. Two albums to put together. A birthday party to prep for. Christmas cards to get together. A bible study to prep for. Not to mention all my “wish-lists” above.
So how do I plan to give myself this gift of time? Scheduling it.
No brainer? Maybe to some of you. But it’s new to me. It hit me … last week actually … I. have. got. to schedule in time for me. Including the things that are just roaming around in my head. My to-do’s. If I don’t put them down in my calendar, they get pushed off and pushed off … and well, not done. Or done in the wee hours when the kids are asleep {and let’s be real here … for me that 9:00pm!} … but still!
I’ve been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis recently and have not been feeling too hot. I’ve been trying to pay close attention to what triggers cause me to feel bad … mostly it’s fatigue and stress or nervousness. If I want to start feeling better, I have got to take time to rest my body. So yeah, even though I’m not “busy” … I have got to pencil it in my schedule, so that I make sure I take the time to do it.
We have to be better at giving ourselves our time. We give it to everyone else. In fact, most of the time we easily give it away.
For me … when I look at my calendar and see a hole here, or a hole here … I end up giving it away.
My gift today … is to learn to pencil in those holes with the things that you need … be it laundry, grocery shopping, editing a session, taking a nap … or even a date night with the hubs!
Let’s allow ourselves to give ourselves what belongs to us … our time.
I love this verse and how it’s translated in the Message Bible:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30
Hi Traci! ME time, down time, etc. is so important! Especially when you have health issues you are working on overcoming! I schedule something everyday(which isn’t easy to do with 2 kids & 3 businesses) but an hour yoga class, an early morning hike, 1/2 hour of meditation before bed, drinks with friends, an hour of “unconnected time” one afternoon, etc. I write it on my momme planner in the section called {ME time}! ;-)
xo, Jenny
You are absolutely right! Me time is essential and it is so easy to fill those holes with other things. It’s something that I struggle with so much.
Amen to that!! That’s exactly what’s on my schedule today…Looking after my house…what I’ve managed to turn away from these past few weeks. “Take the time, take your time”…my new take on life. Thanks for sharing…reminders/personal discoveries are such a blessing. Thank you!!! xox
I loved this!
I needed to read that verse, again. I long to live freely and lightly. Thanks so much for sharing.
My husband asked me recently, “So when do you take your Sabbath?” In other words, when do you rest? Hmmm… I told him ‘here and there.’ I’m guilty. Even God rested, right? We do need to set it aside the ‘blank-open-down’ time. I pledge to do more of it for my health & well-being. Thanks Tracie for the double reminder!
This post hit home and not just about taking time for yourself. I’m as guilty as you although I love the idea of actually scheduling the time – I would have never thought to do that. But – the comment about your MS diagnosis. MS is a topic near & dear to my heart. I don’t have it myself (although at one point the doctors thought I did) but I have an uncle who does and a lovely, wonderful friend who has been wheelchair bound because of it for 15 years – she’s the reason I started walking in the annual MS walk (7 years so far). Ok – this comment wasn’t supposed to be about me – but instead a note to just say I will be praying that you & your doctors are able to manage your type, that the amazing research that has been ongoing is of massive help to you (I haven’t heard if the FDA approved the recent drug discovery – fioprazine or whatever it is, the one that has been such a great help in leg strength/walking…) and that MS stays dormant and is just something you have, not something you have to battle!!! Blessings.