create beauty

Last week I fessed up about the anxiety I’ve been feeling. It seemed to really resonate with people and several friends told me they’ve been feeling the same way. One said she wakes up and is on GO until ten o’clock at night, another said she feels panicked over her to-do list. Yet another said her husband appreciated my suggestion for her to have more sex with him. :)

So, when I woke up on Saturday morning, felt the ahhhh and remembered I didn’t have to shoot out of bed like a rocket to the kitchen to make sandwiches, my next thought was: I want to enjoy simple pleasures this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong–we had a lot on our schedule–but less to-DOs than the weekedays hold and more fun places to BE. The last basketball game of the season, a date with wall-to-wall trampolines, a bounce-house full of three-year olds, a walk to a friend’s house to say “thank you” with yellow tulips.

Instead of rushing through the moments, I paused to enjoy them. I did rush TO the moments, mind you. I am a warm-blooded American who tends to run ten minutes behind schedule everywhere she goes, for goodness’ sake. I just rested when I got there. Wasn’t a slave to the phone or Facebook or my laundry room.

Samantha Livingston | The Right Volume

This laid-back approach did come with a cost, though. When I saw the voicemail and the text, a day after my phone received them, my heart dropped to know my oldest missed an invitation to attend a play with a friend. There were tears and kicking of bed covers and smatterings of guilt that tried to crowd into my mama heart but, in the end, there’s a lesson there too. Friendship isn’t an urgency; it’s a simple pleasure that will wait for the right time.

Blessings on you this Monday. Ready, set, SLOW…

But that's enough about me…what about you?

What simple pleasures have you been enjoying lately?

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  • http://therightvolume.com/ Samantha Livingston

    dum dee dum dee dum. I wish more people would show up here. :)

  • chris chaney

    Want to know one thing i did a few weeks ago that was not popular but released so much stress? I ditched Facebook. I had no idea that my feed was allowing me to feel guilty (I should be that kind of wife and mommy) and prideful (look how awesome and creative I am in the kitchen) and discontent (bummer wish we were heading to the islands) and stressed (sometimes a little political ignorance is bliss).
    In turn it has also allowed me one less reason to be connected to a screen and more connected to the people actually in front of me.
    Thanks for such an encouraging blog!

    • http://therightvolume.com/ Samantha Livingston

      Thanks for sharing Chris. I can relate to the way you’re feeling too. I’ve taken breaks from FB and have always benefited. It’ll never replace a face-to-face conversation, mugs in hand, for sure!