Decadent on the Deck
The Question
Would the world fall apart with out me in it? Perhaps not the whole world, but MY world surely would. Or would it? I found out last Friday. And guess what? The world continues on without me, and my world does not fall apart without me in it.
Mission Mode
Friday I had the day off from work at my real-time job as a graphic designer and copywriter, but I had a multitude of tasks to complete. The farrier was coming. A lunch date with a few girlfriends. And the deadline loomed for a client’s ad. And in the background of my mind the house needed tending to: the floors vacumed, the bathrooms cleaned, and the dishes washed. Oh and how could I forget, the cement pool needing to be recemented and painted before being opened? Always too many tasks and never enough time to complete them.
Here I had an entire day off and a whirlwind of activities to complete. In mission mode, I got up, set off and met the farrier. The girls and I, on our co-op farm where our horses are boarded, helped the farrier to shoe, trim and clean 12 horses—that’s 48 hooves being manicured. Three hours later we were done. Mission #1 accomplished by 11 am. Back home to shower, clean and remove the muck from my boots. On the road again to meet my friends for a quick hello and bite to eat.
My Downfall
The glitch in my fiercely planned day was setting up lunch on THE best outdoor deck on York Road with an all-day happy hour. The quick bite to eat in mid-afternoon extended well into the cool evening air. I held court as old friends left and new friends arrived at my deliciously decadent affair.
The Revelation
And you know what? It felt great. This sinfully sordid scene took place over 8 hours of my day. Eight hours of doing nothing but eating, laughing, drinking—for those of you who are keeping track of my imbibitions, I’m happy to say I paced myself with only three drinks over the 8 hours. None-the-less, it wasn’t about drinking woefully bad rail drinks. It was the decadence of doing nothing. Absolutely nothing, which if truth be told, is everything I wanted to do.
Shameless
In this fast-paced life of instant connection to work, home, kids and partners we never indulge ourselves. Nope. There’s always something to hold our attention. Things have to get done. Mountains need to be moved. And we’re the ones who have to do it. Now I’m not suggesting you should be as self-indulgent as I was, that night, on a regular basis. Oh no. Then it wouldn’t be so shameless. Rather we just need to sit back and do nothing every blue moon. Take the time to breathe, heal, laugh, rejuvenate and reconnect with ourselves and old friends. There’s nothing like it.
Just Be
If you’re feeling out-of-balance, at odds with yourself, or simply overwhelmed, perhaps it’s time to be a little effete. Stop getting caught up in the doing and simply be.
In their article, Making Time for Yourself, Lifeorgainizers.com suggests, “Taking time for yourself is really about Self-Care and is an extremely important component to creating the life you want. It is about honoring yourself and connecting with yourself. Taking care of yourself is one of the first steps on the journey of discovering your truth and accessing your creativity. When you take time for yourself it allows you to stop doing for awhile and to just BE. It is in the Being where your power lies. You automatically raise your standards and capabilities and create potential and possibility in your life. When you honour and nurture yourself you can hear your inner voice much more clearly—you can hear your own truth and this connection enables you to live authentically.”
As I was living authentically watching the blue moon rise above the decadent deck on York Road last Friday evening, I smiled at the serendipity of my world. It still revolved without me and I’m all the more blessed because of it.
I loved every minute of it too!!!
You and me both. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. Loved catching up with you!
I really like your post. Does it copyright protected?
Hi Jane,
All of my posts are copyrighted: ©2009, Linda Losey. If you’d like to use it, or link to it, just let me know where, and I can give you permission.
thanks so much for asking!
Linda
Hello. I think the article is really interesting. I am even interested in reading more. How soon will you update your blog?
Hi Gary,
I update the blog twice a week, so there have been three posts posted since Decadent on the Deck was written. Enjoy!
Linda
Pretty good post. I just found your site and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Thanks so much Katy–very much appreciated your comment!
Cool post, just subscribed.