'Tis The Season ... To Slow Down (Here's what I'm planning on doing)

Damn I am tired.

Physically. Mentally. Spiritually.

The work. The parenting of two kids under six years old. The fitness, religious and yes, even mental goals. Come December ... I'm wiped.

We do this to ourselves. We put so much on ourselves to keep up and to grow simultaneously. We do this without giving ourselves the opportunity to just float.

To slow down.

Most days I feel like I’m climbing a ladder that never ends, and as I get higher, the risk of falling off and getting hurt grows. But instead of climbing down the ladder, by this time of year it feels more like I’m clutching a rung trying to rest and catch my breath before I start reaching upward yet again.

I’ve noticed this sensation in my chest these past few weeks. I’ve googled “heart palpitations and will I die” about thirty times.?

Maybe it’s something physical.?

Maybe it’s something mental.?

Or, the reality, the two things are tied together — as always.?

Often times we tow the company line of Western medicine which is constrained to the notion that the mind and body are separated. We treat things with surgery, medication, booze or other (often) negative crutches while ignoring what our body is trying to communicate: take care of both your physical and mental self.

For me, this holiday season, my body is telling me: slow the f— down.

But if I’m being honest, and why would I be writing this if not to be honest, I am struggling to close the tabs. There is always another item on the professional or personal to-do list, always another call to return, always another fitness milestone I want to reach or even a religious intention I feel compelled to check off.?

It’s four days from Christmas and I am in full sprint up the ladder. I don’t just need to cling to a high rung; I need to get off and go lay down.?

For now, no more collapsing at the altar of aspirational, self-imposed goals (“I will read two books on faith and journal every day” or “I will work out twice a day and never eat before noon”).

So this is it here. This is my moment. And I encourage others to join me in this, please. (And if you do, please let me know so we can carry our bond to do it together.)

I am shutting it down.

• The to-do list can go in the desk drawer.?
• I’ll check my work phone a couple times a day but unless it’s immediate, it can wait.?
• I won’t keep my personal phone on me unless I leave the house.
• I won’t feel bad for not returning texts and I’ll limit social media to once per day, maybe.
• I will exercise, but I will do it for peace and joy not a physical goal.
• I will pray and be still.
• I will look my family in their eyes, undistracted, and just be with them.
• I will take naps on the couch, stare into the sky and read fiction books just for fun.

And I will attempt to keep that state-of-being going into January: to be more productive, healthier (physically + mentally) and to live with more joy, a “more consistent” state of happiness.?

I will slow down.

Who’s with me?