Relax....

Life is tough.  We all need to have a safe place to rest our brains.  We need a place that we aren’t always “on”.  If you think about it, with small children we have “time-outs”.  What is a time out for a child?  It is a place for the child to sit and calm down.  A place where the child can “reset” themselves.

Why are we smart enough to see that small children need to step away for a few minutes and calm down, but when we are adults, we think that we need to constantly need to be in forward motion?  It doesn’t make sense to me.

Wouldn’t it make sense for us to take some time to reset, rest our brains, and breathe?   Do we always have to be on?  We seem to only have two settings.  On and off.  We are sleeping or in forward motion. 

I personally think that if we would all take time to find our safe place spot and rest our brains, that we would be happier.  We probably wouldn’t feel that we need to take anxiety pills, antidepressants, or any other vices.  Please don’t assume that I don’t realize that there are needs for antidepressants, anxiety meds, and other meds to help us. 

When I was little and be at my grandmother’s house, she would always sit and have a cup of coffee, and do the crossword puzzle in the paper.  Both of my grandmother’s would sit quietly and crochet.  My mom would sit and knit.  My mom would do jigsaw puzzles.  In my mind, that was their way of resting their brains.  That was their safe place.  That was a chance for them to shut life off for some time and recharge.

What happened in our life’s to make us believe that we are not deserving of 15 minutes to calm down, a little time to reset ourselves?

I will say that I often get teased by friends because I go to bed early.  First of all, I also get up early.  That’s just how my body clock works.  Sometimes, I do actually go to sleep early.  Other times though, I go upstairs and just hang out on my bed. I read.  I study.  I watch TV.  I do crosswords.  I just am removed from the day. 

I know many people personally who should adopt this.  I think that they would have a less stressful existence.  I think that life might make a bit more sense to them. 

I dare everyone to just steal 15 minutes from their day to escape and reset.  Even if you have to sit in a car and listen to calming music.  ( I don’t think that “head banging” music would lower your stress level.)  I bet at the end of the week, you won’t miss the 105 minutes. 

My point is that we allow this to be a developmental tool for our children.  Our previous generations saw the importance of relaxing.  Why on earth don’t we?