REST and RELAXATION!!!

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.”   Mark Black

Everyone has responsibilities.  Most spend their days- taking care of their husbands, wives, children, parents, WHILE working, carpooling kids, traffic, cooking dinners, etc.  You know the stressful routine because you probably live it.  Our time is spent tending to the needs of others while we ourselves are on the backburner.  We get so caught up in the act of doing that we forget the importance of stillness.  Stillness is silence.  It’s quiet.  It’s the absence of movement.  Stillness is the hush that both our minds and bodies need to relax.  That’s why it’s important to take time for some much-needed R&R- REST and RELAXATION.   REST and RELAXATION give us the “time-out” that our minds and bodies need from our hectic schedules and lives.  It affords us the opportunity to renew, refresh, and revive ourselves.  Do you need hush moments in your life? When was the last time you made time for REST and RELAXATION?  I HADN’T ……well, not until last week!! So for this week’s blog, let’s talk SHIP about the importance of taking the time for some much-needed REST and RELAXATION!!!

For most of the country, including my family, this past year has been stressful and mentally taxing.  A national pandemic and the many lives lost to it, a heated presidential election, rampant police brutality and its subsequent protests, the insurrection of the Capitol building, the emergence of Karen’s, and overt racism, were headline news every day and were major contributors to a very stressful year for most of us. My family’s primary stressors were my dad’s passing, the shelter in place directives caused by the pandemic, and now the stress caused by the emergence of a new virus strain.  So when my cousin from Mississippi called a few weeks ago and invited our family to meet her and a few other cousins in Las Vegas, we excitedly accepted the invitation and boy am I glad we did, we had an AWESOME time!! 

It was five wonderful days with an agenda filled with nothing but REST and RELAXATION. We stayed in my cousin’s timeshare at the beautiful Wyndham Desert Blue Hotel and spent every day relaxing in the pool and the jacuzzi.  We laughed and reminisced about good times while creating new memories. We cooked, we ate out. We hit the casinos, we won some and lost some but we had fun. My trip highlight was seeing my mom in the water or lounging around the pool, smiling, laughing, and looking sooo relaxed. From years of caregiving for my dad to grieving his passing, and with her upcoming 66th wedding anniversary, this trip was just what GOD had ordered………she needed it. Even though we hadn’t actually realized how much we needed it, this trip gave us a mental break. It allowed us to lovingly gather and fellowship with family while providing the REST and RELAXATION that we ALL so desperately needed.

The hustles and bustles of life can take a toll on our minds and bodies and this trip taught me the importance of incorporating REST and RELAXATION into our everyday lives. Although it would be nice, REST and RELAXATION doesn’t have to be an extravagant trip or a fancy getaway, we can relax at home too. We can create calming moments and experiences in our lives by getting a massage, listening to soothing music, swimming, walking, meditation, yoga, exercising, taking a long hot bath, or whatever activity we enjoy that will allow us to release stress from both our minds and bodies. REST and RELAXATION is the gift to ourselves that enables us to take a “time-out” from our thoughts and feelings and allows us to be still. It gives us the permission we need to… SIMPLY BE. When we take time for REST and RELAXATION, we hit the reset button on our lives and allow our minds and bodies to align and come into balance. 

We already know that life can be stressful, so I encourage you to use your “time-out” to schedule a time when you can get some much-needed REST and RELAXATION, after all, you deserve it!! As for me, I am thinking about consistent ways that I can incorporate REST and RELAXATION into my daily experiences. And am forever grateful to my cousin, Thelma, and her husband, Larry, for extending the invitation to meet in Las Vegas, and am even happier that we accepted because it truly did allow us, especially my mom, the opportunity to use our “time-out” to get some much-needed REST and RELAXATION and we did just that!!  Thanks, 1st lady!!!

SHIP TALK: Do you take time out daily for REST and RELAXATION? What do you do? When was the last time you took time out for some much-needed REST and RELAXATION? What did you do?

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