Sometimes you just have to take a break from the everyday demands. Notice I said take a break not a vacation. One doesn’t always have the time for an extended break, i.e., vacation. But there are opportunities to take brief respites if you allow yourself to notice them.
Noticing:
Last Friday was a beautiful day in Boston. After having a late, meandering lunch with a colleague at Toro in the South End, I decided to walk down Washington Street, stopping along the way to check out the wares in Boomerangs Special Edition (where I bought a pair of earrings) and stopping in Garage Sale (a high-end consignment shop where I couldn’t afford anything I wanted). After making my way to Downtown Crossing, I decided to extend my walk to South Station.
I arrived there at 4:30 and the onslaught of office workers pouring forth from the financial district was in full swing but because it was Friday and the weather was balmy, people were smiling. I smiled back. I decided to sit on a bench outside and enjoy the breeze and people watch.
This pause of about an hour rejuvenated me. I enjoyed seeing my fellow human beings in all their great diversity: ethnicities, sizes, ages, clothes, expressions, and gaits. This sea of humanity coming and going, separate and connected, and I belonged to them and they belonged to me in those minutes. I hopped on the Red Line home.
Once home, it occurred to me how important it is to seize moments for respite – planned holidays, meditation, walks, plays, dance, whatever. .. I later announced to my husband that I’d like for us to declare a computer and phone free time once-a-week where we can just be together without these electronic devices that tether us to them and not to each other. We’ll see how that works out.
I hope you, too, take a pause for your cause whenever you can. Who deserves it more than you?
That moment of oneness was worth as much as any hour of work could have been.