Find time for yourself
Find time for yourself.
Feel it no shame at proper periods to be doing nothing.
Make seasons for leisure and for recreation.
Climb the hills; scour the valleys; row on the river; stroll along the beach.
Cultivate the friendship of the fields and the ferns and the flowers.
Laugh with the young folk and romp with little children.
Be at your ease.
Let the mind swing into an easy balance, a natural poise, an attitude of perfect repose.
The restless soul, eternally doing something, never accomplishes anything.
It is the person who can sometimes be at rest who produces the finest work in the long run.
Find time for yourself!
This piece was shared by Pip Lincolne recently at the end of a fun (and timely, for me) list of pick-me-up things to do when you're not feeling so great. FW Boreham was one of the most prolific and celebrated Australian authors of all time, although he is lesser-known today, and Pip recently discovered he was also her great grandfather.
I hope she doesn't mind me sharing his words again here. I found them so refreshing: the permission and indeed encouragement to take time out. To do nothing. Recognising the value and importance of down-time, not only for productivity (which is of course important), but also simply for happiness!
When you consider that FW Boreham was writing from a Baptist perspective during a time when the Protestant work ethic was at its height, you can perhaps appreciate even more how revolutionary, intelligent and kind those words must have been to those who read them back then, as well as now.
And I have been taking time out. I've been coughing and crafting and reading and writing in not-quite-equal measure. I've been romping with little children. I've been going to bed early. Sometimes. I've given myself permission to not have to update this blog quite so often, although I miss it, and hopefully soon all that "time out" will lead to more productivity, here and elsewhere. We will see. I'm not pushing myself!
In the meantime, THANK YOU Pip and Frank (FW). This was exactly what I needed to read this morning, to start the day in the best possible way. I hope it helps you guys, too.
Photo is by Mikael Kristenson, and is licensed for use under Creative Commons Zero
