Image by inajeep
By Greg Primm
It’s probably a little cliche to do a Thanksgiving post, but I couldn’t resist. I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends. My family and I spent a the day together on a family farm a couple of hours away. Besides spending some much needed time with my wife and daughters, I got to hang out in the woods with my dad. The older I get the more I enjoy hanging out with him. Our best time together is usually when we are doing something active like today when we just knocked around the woods together.
After the traditional Thanksgiving meal, complete with giblet gravy, cranberry sauce out of a can, and more turkey than I can eat in a month, there was a strange feeling welling up inside of me. It wasn’t bad yams, nor was it the lingering effects of tryptophan from the turkey. It was something I hadn’t felt in quite some time:
CONTENTMENT
Suddenly confronted with this strange feeling, I took stock of what could have caused it:
- Surrounded by a great family
- Stuffed with a great meal (and even better desserts)
- No place to go, no schedule to meet
- Football on the TV (even though the Titans/Lions game stunk)
- A comfortable chair
Now my last post was titled, “A Case Against Contentment”. So at first I figured it would be strange to follow up that with an article endorsing contentment. However, today I’m talking more about taking a break, re-charging your batteries, chilling out for a day.
If you’ve read any of the articles here at ReadyAimLife, you know that we like to think big. We’re trying to live great lives seeking to meet the potential that God sees in us. We know we each only have one shot at life and we have to make the most of it. However, sometimes you can think about it too much. We don’t truly give ourselves a break. Even when we think we’re relaxing, we’ve got so many things vying for our attention that we never truly give ourselves a mental rest.
So, here’s my prescription for you for this weekend: turn the TV off, put the to-do list away, and spend a morning or afternoon away just hanging out. No agenda, no plan. Take a nap, go for a walk, play with your kids. Whatever you do, stay out of the malls, cause I want you to recharge your batteries.
That’s it! Sometimes I think we all get so busy in life with our to-do list, over scheduled days, and hyper-connected world, that we forget to just be. I came away from today more re-charged and happy than I’ve been in quite some time. It’s all because I disconnected from my normal life and allowed myself to mentally check out on all the things that normally occupy my thoughts.
Have a great weekend. We’ve got some great articles lined up for next week.
