“Sometimes you need to step outside, get some air, and remind yourself of who you are and who you want to be.” -Unknown
That’s why I love holidays so much! They give you the chance to disengage from normal life for a day, step outside, get some air, and remember what you are like when you are just you…not the you with a bunch of responsibilities on your shoulders needing to get done…but the you that laughs and play games and lives in the moment with your family and loved ones.
Whenever we are able to take a moment outside to breathe and enjoy our loved ones, it helps us regain our perspective on what all the day to day grind is supposed to be for. The grind isn’t supposed to be for the purpose of accumulating tremendous wealth, or trying to elevate our status or title, or competing to beat out others, or chasing after power…the day to day grind is supposed to be about being able to afford more free time to spend with the people we love…not less…
It’s really easy to get sucked into letting the day to day grind become about all kinds of other things rather than affording us more time with our loved ones. It can easily become an addiction – addiction to chasing greater success, addiction to competing, addiction to fancier and fancier lifestyle, etc. Which, when you take a moment to recognize who you are now and remember who it is you want to be, hopefully its pretty obvious where you need to check yourself and what changes you need to make.
I think what is much harder to recognize is when your day to day grind is spent serving others…it’s hard to recognize when you’ve allowed that to become your addiction. It’s hard to think of it as a negative when you are doing things that help others – but the truth is that if you’ve allowed your well-doing to keep you from spending adequate time with your family and loved ones then it too requires that you check yourself and figure out what changes you need to make.
Having the day to breathe has definitely helped me remember who I am and who I want to be. It’s good for all of us to check ourselves so we can figure out what changes we need to make in order to better balance our time so its spent in a way that takes us toward the person we want to be.
~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )
