Living-Deliberately.com

Being nearly the sole breadwinner for my family now, “diligently applying myself” to work hours has become a necesity.  Not just a ’second income’ or ‘hobby’ but I’ve got to do what Dave Ramsey says and “kill it and drag it home”.  It takes deliberatness for certain.

Our American, and certainly an entrepreneural, work ethic can easily translate into massive work hours, where sleep diminishes and creative pursuits vanish as the focus narrows into work, and work only, production. I was raised by entreprenuers and I know the “feast or famine” lifestyle well.  I know “yagottawanna” is one of my earliest memories. I played hard as a kid and I work hard as an adult because, “if you don’t work, you don’t eat”.

But I’m thankful God rested on the 7th day. And as I built my company last year, one thing I insisted on early was that on Sundays, my computer gets to STAY OFF.

As 2007 became rockier and it’s routine vanished, leaving chaos in it’s wake, our sense of “what day is it” vanished too. Thinking beyond the day we were currently living got tougher and projection became impossible. So for a few months we had no structured time off. One “got while the gettin’ was good”. Rest when you can. Work when you can. Eat when you can.

It is a grace, from my point of view, to see a restoration of structure and routine. To work hard Monday through Friday and see the accomplishement of an entire “to do” list was a blessing of large proportion. And on Friday night, after I posted about the movie I’d seen, I shut the computer down.

On Saturday I painted with the kids. They’d been wanting to do some canvas stuff, like I’d been working on recently, so I got them each one and we got to “work”. I baked a Banana Cream pie. The early spring days are  bliss and we spent some time outside. On Sunday I went to church, spoke with new friends, and got a fresh idea. I drove with the windows down and my hair blowing in the breeze. I picked up the sunday New York Times.

Ironically, the Sunday Style section featured an article by Mark Brittman called, “I Need A Virtual Break” which tells the tale of his own journey towards a sabbath rest. He calls it his “secular sabbath” because he has no particular religious motivation…his was a quest for quiet and rest. The transition wasn’t easy as he went through the very real “withdrawl” from near-constant email checks, text messaging, and phone calls. It is all replaced with walks, thoughts, books, and fresh air.

It felt good to have the tactile refreshment of a real newspaper in my hands again. To read viewpoints and perspectives that are new to me. To sit in the sun for hours and feel the breeze on my face. I worked on my painting and baked a new variety of cupcake.

I went to sleep after an hour of guitar joy and dreamed happy dreams. Making sure I keep my “worry appointment” during my first lap of running has meant depression doesn’t ease it’s way into my night thoughts. It’s been a very successful, deliberate strategy for coping with extreme stress. And so are days of intentional rest.

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