This week’s blog is a couple days late…but with good reason! After a few minor setbacks last week (that of course felt super-major in the moment!), I needed time to recharge, reconfigure, and get my bearings. Then this weekend, I took some time away from working (even though I love it) to do things that fed my soul. Saturday was spent with family, including my parents and my “brother from another mother” who recently returned to town…a sort of family reunion, I guess!
Then on Sunday, I dressed up in my craziest of outfits and headed into DC with a group of other neon-clad folks from all walks of life to spend 2 hours dancing outdoors as part of a fundraiser for the Make-a-Wish foundation. Despite almost passing out at the end (thankfully, I had a group of sisters with me who prevented that from happening….and I had just met them that morning as part of an impromptu “let’s meet and metro together, local folks” plan!)), it was an AMAZING day. Yes, it was fun. Yes, it was silly. Yes, it was an adventure. But most importantly, it fed my SOUL. Men and women from all over the DMV (that’s Washington, D.C.; Maryland; and Virginia for those not from the area!) came together for a common purpose, and it was beautiful. Sunshine + Dance + Kindness + Good Vibes = A PERFECT way to spend a day! Add to that the over $10,000 raised for Make-a-Wish, and it was magical indeed. (If you’re in the area, the folks who put on this amazing event and their tribe of happy followers can be found in Springfield, VA. Check out www.kazaxe.com for more info.)
But let’s be clear, I’m not just telling you about my amazing weekend as an excuse for not posting my weekend blog until Monday. Why I’m REALLY telling you this is because I want to emphasize how important it is to FEED YOUR SOUL. Maybe dance fitness isn’t your passion. That’s okay. But think about what is, and then make time for it! Too often we say we are too busy to take time for ourselves, for what REALLY feeds our souls. Believe me, I have been more guilty of this that I care to admit. Looking at my to-do list this morning of everything I didn’t get done last week/over the weekend almost sent me into a panic. But then I realized that it’s okay. First of all, those things WILL get done; they just aren’t done yet. And that’s okay, because while I was not doing them, I was busy doing something even more important. I created time and space to take care of myself without any other focus. What a gift that was! And now, having done that, I feel like all of these to-do list items are now getting done faster and more comprehensively BECAUSE I TOOK TIME FOR MYSELF.
WOW! Who knew that taking a “time out” from work could actually make you more focused? For years, I didn’t. But now that I’m embracing the idea, I can’t believe what I had been missing! Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying to just abandon all of your responsibilities. What I’m saying is that it’s important to create space for just you in your life. And it’s okay to push the pause button on things that can wait every once in a while in order to do things that FEED YOUR SOUL. I can almost guarantee that you’ll be better for it!
