A few years ago, someone suggested I spend an afternoon doing absolutely nothing.

Nothing.

No jobs.

No emails.

No cleaning.

No errands.

No "while I'm here, I may as well..."

Just relax.

Turns out, I was surprisingly bad at it!

I sat down with a cup of tea and immediately started making a mental list of all the things I should be doing.

The washing.

The emails.

The groceries.

The thing I'd forgotten to do yesterday.

The thing I'd forgotten to do last week.

The thing I hadn't even thought of yet but was probably forgetting anyway.

Sound familiar?

For something that sounds so simple, relaxing can be incredibly difficult.

Most of us are so used to being busy that sitting still can feel strange.

Sometimes even a little uncomfortable.

I've seen it on retreats too.

People arrive determined to relax and then spend the first day trying to be productive at relaxing.

They want to make the most of every minute.

Attend everything.

Do everything.

See everything.

Then somewhere along the way they realise they don't actually have to.

That's usually when the magic happens.

The book comes out.

The afternoon nap happens.

The ocean gets stared at for no reason whatsoever.

Someone sits quietly with a coffee.

And nobody wins a medal for being busy.

One of my favourite things about yoga is that it gives us permission to stop for a little while.

Not because we've earned it.

Not because we've finished everything.

But because we're human.

The jobs will still be there tomorrow.

Trust me.

I've checked.

So if you've been waiting for permission to slow down a bit, here it is.

You don't need to earn your rest.

You don't need to finish every job first.

And you definitely don't need to feel guilty for taking a break.

Sometimes sitting quietly with a cup of tea is actually enough.

Who knew?

Until next time, stop trying to win the Busy Olympics.

Leesa x