Showing posts with label relaxing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relaxing. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Choose happiness...

One of my nieces posed this question on her Facebook page, "Are you truly happy?" Her friends, all in their mid to late 20s all weighed in with various answers. Some of them decided they were happy for now but things could be better and some were not happy at all and had a laundry list of complaints. I find the question interesting and one that I've asked myself from time to time.

I think about happiness a lot. I see a lot of unhappy situations where I work. People living in poor conditions, dealing with illnesses and poverty and hopelessness but I can't really tell you the last time I saw a truly unhappy person. Because even in the unhappiest of situations, most people will tell me that they do feel some happiness in their lives. Somehow, they find it.

I am a happy person. Now having said that, let me also say that I have slight depression for which I take medication. I am dealing with health issues but meeting them head on. I'm going a bit stir crazy from being home all the time due to my knee surgery. I wish I had more money so I could do more of what I wanted to do but I don't. Yet, I am happy. I look around at my small home, at my husband and family and know that I am loved and have people to love and that is what matters. So I am happy.

I am one person in a big, big world and at the end of the day I might not leave a very big foot print but I do leave a mark so I am happy. I do matter. I have worth. I am interesting in my own way. I can be funny and fun to be around. I can also be crabby and worth leaving alone once in awhile but then again, so can we all! Life is too short to constantly live in a state of want and wishing and worrying. Sometimes, maybe more like all the time, it is very important to relax, breathe and appreciate who and what and where we are. And when you do...it comes to you. Happiness. It's right there. Waiting for you. Just take it.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Taking time...

So, I am off work all this week. The agency is closed on Friday anyway this week so I decided to take four days of vacation time. Not going anywhere. Not really doing anything at all. No plans, except to sleep in when I can. Pretty much just going to be a lazy bum all week. I work with people who cannot understand this at all. Pity.

I've worked at the agency for 20 years and in that time I have earned 5 weeks of paid vacation time off each year. Five weeks is a lot of time. I can spread that out over the year and manage to get in some good quality down time when I need it. The best part is we don't lose it at the end of the year if we haven't used it up so, theoretically, I could just save it all and take an extended break if I wanted to. I did take a month off one summer. That was great! I traveled to Sweden for three weeks and had the time of my life! But now, I like to take a day here or there or a week now and again just to relax and not think about work.

There's something really nice about sleeping in on a Monday morning knowing that my colleagues are all getting up and headed to work. My inner child wants to scream, "Nanananananboobooo!" Of course, my coworkers could not leave me alone today and I had several text messages telling me how much they missed me. LOL!

Time off from work is essential. I work with people who feel there is some honor in never taking a day off. One of them is almost loathe to take time off. She always says she would be bored. Yet, while at work, she is always having migraine headaches and unexplained stomach pains. Clearly, she is in need of a day of doing nothing...just for herself. But she will never see it that way.

As for me? I will take my time and relax. Watch old movies, read, spend time with my sister or not, shop a little, take a walk and nap and that pretty much is all I plan to do - for an entire week!


Post Script - It's been a week since I shaved my head for St. Baldrick's Foundation. I've discovered that without hair I am almost always cold! I've taken to wearing a hat most of the time and the one I opt for mostly is my St. Baldrick's Foundation baseball cap. Overwhelmingly, people stop and ask me about it and congratulate me for doing it! It's been one of the most rewarding events I have ever done in my life! So worth it and so much fun! A life changer, for sure!