Sometimes we take our friends for granted. We forget that our friends, as opposed to our family, are people we choose to spend time with. They are the ones we are honest with, cry with, laugh with. They are the ones that encourage us. If we’re really good friends we can even go “make-up less” and not feel uncomfortable. (I have a friend that I had been friends with for twenty years before I saw her without her make-up!)
Yesterday we spent a day together, shopping, crafting, eating cake, etc. I can’t believe I didn’t take pictures at the time. So now I have to take pictures of their finished items without the “process”.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing, having fun, thinking about nothing else but the fun I was having. For me, that’s highly unusual.
I have a mind that never quits. It’s a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because I like to think my always processing mind is what ignites my creativity. But it’s a curse when I focus on the more troubling parts of my life. And we all have them, don’t we? They ebb and flow like the ocean’s tides and if we’re lucky when the tide leaves the beach and heads out to the ocean, it takes some of our troubles with it. But often the tide just dumps it’s garbage on our beach and leaves it there. That’s why having a day off from our thinking too much is so therapeutic.
But the problem is we just don’t play enough. Instead of playing in the water we let the tides engulf us until we’re drowning in the always present troubled parts of our life.
So my word of encouragement to all of you today is, plan a “play date”. Sometimes I plan a date with just myself!
The week-end is coming up. Plan something fun. Sometimes having fun is hard if there are people in your life who are sick or struggling in some way. You feel you come across as unsympathetic. You’re not. Sometimes taking time for yourself is the healthiest thing you can do for someone else.
