Finding some quiet time in your life, I think, is hugely important. Mariel Hemingway

Do you ever feel like you want the world to stop so that you can get off?  Not die, I don’t mean get of permanently, I mean just a chance for you to take a break from your life.  I know I do.  Sometimes things get so overwhelming that I feel, if I get thrown one more thing, I will just crumble!  Sometimes I get so weary, so tired and feel like I am losing myself to all that is around me. 

For most of us our lives are exceedingly full, we work, have families, personal interests, friends, hobbies, even school, and it just seems sometimes that life comes at you from all sides, and you just need to side step it and take a break.  This is not a reflection of how we feel about our lives, though maybe for most of us our lives are probably more cluttered than they should be.  It is more a chance for us to transcend the daily existing and be completely still and very very quiet!

I imagine myself sometimes away from it all, in a quiet place where the only noise is that of the wind and maybe the ocean, I imagine myself in a cool, breezy place where I am all alone though not at all lonely.  I cherish that time alone with the breeze, I want it for at least two or three days, anything more than that might be pushing it.  Time with no phone calls, no internet, newspapers, nothing from the world to interrupt my tranquil state, I don’t even want conversation.  However it also should be a time where I am not worried about anything, not even that my friends and family will be concerned about my disappearing act.

My time, a time to reflect within, a time to hum to myself as I make my favorite meal, lazily and slowly savoring the moment when I  cut a fruit  and the smell of its sweet nectar drifts up from the cutting board and tickles my nostrils making me pause and lick my lips in anticipation.  When I pour my beverage, and watch as it leaves its receptacle to nestle comfortably in my glass, watch how the glass hugs and protects it. Take in its faint scent and see the bubbles sparkle in the glass.  I believe that when one is not cluttered and congested with every day life, one can actually take apart and enjoy each and every experience, as though in slow motion.

Those are the moments, I would imagine reaching back into the treasure trove that is my experiences and memories and being able to reflect on them and be totally nostalgic. It is the time when I can dream about how I would like the future to unfold.  A time I can delight in a daydream and imagine it is real. When I can hope and pray that things come to be as I envision them.  A time to rest, my body, my mind and my soul for just a minute or an hour or a day or longer if I am lucky; when I can listen to my favorite music, as I watch the world spinning on its axis beside me, getting along, and for once without my intrusion or my input; a time when I can heal and regenerate, until I get back in the world rejuvenated and a little wiser.

Okay this may all seem farfetched for some of you and it may seem a tad bit idealistic, but I think the truth holds that we all do get overwhelmed with our lives sometimes and need a moment to rest and regroup before jumping in again.  We all have different ways of “jumping off the world”. Some people go to a spa, some “catch pints” (go drinking), whilst others will do Yoga, go hiking, dancing, and even cooking for therapy.  Whichever it is, I think it is important, our souls, bodies and minds need a pit stop to refuel and regenerate, giving us energy to continue.  What is your ideal time out? What do you do when you want the world to STOP so that you can get off……for a moment?