Taking A Timeout

Since the dawn of earth, humans have lived their lives based on schedules. We now live with extended schedules of cramming as much into the day as possible regardless of when the sun rises and falls. It seems we’ve built schedules for almost everything: bill schedules, work schedules, school schedules, eating schedules, etc. In your own schedule, do you fit in “joy”?

Even in my self-acceptance of knowing I am a to-do list junkie, I still surprise myself with leaving the most important things off my list. The other day, I built a cleaning to-do list on my day off. From start to finish what I wanted to accomplish to clear my day for, well, doing nothing. Even after crossing off the last room on the list, I didn’t move onto what I wanted to do. The heaving obligations of other “to-do” items tugged at my conscious and resulting in pushing aside a favorite pastime once again.

How often do we push aside a favorite pastime or hobby because it’s not scheduled in? Maybe instead of making the ever popular and ever failing New Years Resolution, we should alter our schedule for a time out. Your time out could be anything, from reading a chapter in a good book, to seeing a movie once a week. It’s just a period of time which is scheduled for your favorite pastime.

Too many of us work harder, longer, add more responsibilities, multi-task, and automate our entire lives to cram more into our schedule we are at overload long before we realize it. I bought into the idea long ago that if I worked hard now, I could play later. Later being 65 years old. Staring at the array of half-painted canvases in my old office, realized I wanted to play now. We all need a little bit of a time-out from our schedule to soothe our souls and regain momentum. In 2009, let’s add a little time-out for ourselves. It can be as much as you want it to be, or as little as you can spare. Just find that one little task that may not yield any profit, grow you professionally, enhance your relationship, or serve your community, but only serve you.

I won’t lie or try to deny my to-do list nature, but adhere to it by adding my timeout to my to-do list. It’s easy to put ourselves and hobbies last on the list. The cyclic nature of ending the day without completing our time-out, and going weeks starving our souls. Add a little time-out to your schedule, be selfish, and enjoy a moment in time just for you.