JOY-CAFE.COM JoyBlog

I was a full blown city-slicker for the longest time in my life.  As an adult, I rushed everywhere I went, on tight schedules with a cup of tea or coffee ever-present in my hand.  I never stopped and smelled roses, much less chicken manure (don’t ask - okay ask, but I’m saving it for another ramble).

I didn’t see my first (and last) cow up close and personal until I was 12 years old.  My country cousin was taking my brother and me down to a pond on his property.  I managed to get passed the cow after being frozen in place while it stared at me, to stand at the pond.  Everything was fine - until he mentioned snakes.  That was all she wrote.  I broke all time speed records leaving that cow pasture never to darken one again.

So the irony is that I married a rancher.  No, that is not true.  I married an electrical engineer who worked at the same nuclear plant I did.  I did not discover his dark side until a few years later when we were talking about unfulfilled dreams.  Oi-vay!

It seemed so unfair… until he whispered something into my ear that turned me into a “bona fied” rancher’s wife.  Unlimited access to yummy steak.

OK – I’m shallow – so sue me.

But that’s not what this ramble is about.  This ramble is about the art of slowing down.  I am discovering that most of my friends – probably all of them – are so strung out, un-rested, overworked, over-scheduled, over-committed, and overwrought.  They are tense, stressed, irritable, fight with their mates, and can’t sleep.  They have ulcers, stress, chest pains, headaches, and high blood pressure.  They run run run run run all the time.  They usually have to let something go in order to make it all fit – housework being the #1 choice of women everywhere (ho).

Ask me how I know this.  Go ahead, ask me.  Been ‘dere dun dat!

I began learning to slow down several years ago.  It wasn’t easy.  It feels like you’re cheating someone if you have time to stop and enjoy life.  I’d been working since I was 14 years old and did not know how to slow down.  I was scheduled to near death.  If one thing on my schedule went wrong, my entire schedule came down like a house of cards.  Then I was stressed.

But then I learned two things – the art of saying “NO” (and sticking to it no matter how much someone tried to manipulate me into saying yes) and that this is the only life we have.  There are no do-overs.  EVERY day is a precious and valuable gift just for you.  We should cherish and enjoy each and every day we have.

I am never ever again going to overextend myself for other people at the expense of my family, time or health.  I cut back on commitments and wasted time.  I cut people out of my life who were stressful and time-wasters.  Hubby and I shut off the television on weekdays years ago.  Except on weekends, we don’t watch TV and then its usually just movies.  I am working to organize my house so that it is a breeze to clean.  Why?  So I have more TIME to enjoy my life.

It was hard to cut out things but once I did – this amazing thing happened.  I relaxed.  I read.  I slept better at night.  I was happy, singing and dancing all over the house.  I laugned more and was sick less.  I began enjoying life to a depth heretofore never experienced.

I enjoyed the cat playing with my ankles while I hang clothes on a clothesline (I still miss that cat).  I enjoy the fresh air smell on my sheets at night.  I enjoy watching lazy bumblebees bopping around my flowers.  I enjoy sitting outside under my tree while I read.  I enjoy listening to the water splash in my fountain.  I enjoy the scent of honeysuckle wafting in the breeze.  I enjoy my new sunroom in all its glory.  I enjoy having time to read a book or magazine.  I enjoy time savoring a great cuppa tea.  I enjoy having time to enjoy this life God has given me.

I want to ask you something:  if you don’t slow down and enjoy where you are right now, when are you going to enjoy your life?  Where is it that you are rushing to that is so important that your today whizzes by on your way to that tomorrow?  Tomorrow never gets here – it is always TODAY.  Take time to enjoy it.  Why are you wasting it?

Speaking of which… I have something better to do now.   ..