Oh, to Wear Horizontal Stripes Again: Making Time For Yourself

“Oh, to wear horizontal stripes again.”

This off-the-cuff remark of mine had my friend Deb and me laughing so hard that the salesperson was laughing with us. I’m not sure if she heard what I said or was simply responding to our uncontrollable laughter. Either way, I’m glad she got a smile from it!

There were other comments throughout the weekend, whether it was a “not-to-be-eaten pork tenderloin” dinner memory or a wisecrack that lightened the heaviness of some of the life conversations that two longtime (not old!) friends who hadn’t seen one another in a while naturally had.

It all made the weekend just what I needed.

There was laughter. There were serious conversations. There was good food, a little shopping and simply being somewhere different with someone I’ve known for a very long time.

Nothing particularly extraordinary happened.

And maybe that’s the point.

Sometimes we don’t need something extraordinary. We just need to step away from the ordinary long enough to remember how good it feels to laugh until our stomach hurts, have a conversation without watching the clock, or do something simply because we want to.

When was the last time you truly belly laughed and felt the weight of life’s responsibilities lighten a bit because you stepped away from your day-to-day routine for a change of pace?

For those of us who are accustomed to being responsible, productive and the one who keeps things moving, a change of pace can sometimes feel like something we’ll get to when there’s time.

But we know how that usually works.

There will always be something that needs doing. Someone who needs something. A reason why this week - or this month - isn’t quite the right time.

Which means sometimes we have to choose to make room for ourselves.

My weekend with Deb, and other friends this weekend, reminded me that stepping away doesn’t mean stepping away from your responsibilities. It can simply mean giving yourself enough distance from them to hear yourself again.

To notice what you’ve been missing.

What you’ve been wanting.

What feels good.

What matters to you right now.

And sometimes, to remember that the woman underneath all those responsibilities is still there and she could probably use a little more time in your life.

Maybe that looks like a weekend away with an old friend.

Maybe it’s an afternoon doing something you haven’t done in years.

Maybe it’s sitting somewhere with a cup of coffee and absolutely nowhere you need to be for the next hour.

It doesn’t have to be dramatic to make a difference.

But it probably does require you to choose it.

And perhaps that’s your invitation for September:

Give yourself a change of pace.

Not because you’ve earned it.

Not because everything else is finally taken care of.

Simply because making room for yourself belongs on the list, too.

A few days away from the day-to-day. Light coaching and activities. Good conversation, laughter and time to think. Space to reconnect with what you want and what matters most now and consider how to make more room for it when you return home.

Because your turn probably isn’t going to magically appear on the calendar.

More often than not, you have to choose it.

And who knows? Maybe there are horizontal stripes in your future, too. 😉

All the best –

Beth

P.S. And if you’ve been thinking that a change of pace - and some intentional space to hear yourself again - sounds like exactly what you need, that’s a big part of why I created The Permission Slip Weekend, October 8–11 at Lake Norman, NC.