Sunday Inspiration: Empty Days
I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room. -May Sarton
Guilty as charged.
I do feel bereft when I’m not productive and too often at a loss when I’m not writing or working on something.
But I know May Sarton (one of my favorite poets) is absolutely right. I need empty days when I can experience who I am without all the clutter of my life. I need solitude when I can enjoy just being me. How about you?
Happy empty days!
Beautiful Emilie. You have made my day plus a few. I am away house/pet sitting for my daughter so that she could spend a long weekend with her daughter and granddaughters in Texas. I was feeling guilty about not feeling guilty about the fact that I’ve been doing only as I wish. Thanks to you, I have done away with all guilt!!!!!
I bet you’re having a great time, and I insist you do more of that. 🙂
Yes indeed! A day of rest is what God did after He created the world. I just got my daughter packed off , last week, for two years in Germany. Thursday, my son arrived back from Japan and leaves again tomorrow. I feel like I have been torn and twisted and totally tuckered! I feel guilty about taking time off, but actually too tired to argue! Rest is a good thing. And as humans we wear down our batteries way too often. Then we get sick or something happens that makes us stop. We need to learn to take time to enjoy just the quiet. It is as important as being busy. Wearing our batteries down is not good because you accompiish so much less at half speed! We should give ourselves a break!
You may call them “empty days.” I call them “mental health days”…days to recharge and give thanks for all our blessings.
May Sarton used “empty days,” but I like mental health days, too, Nancy. I think she was trying to point out that time doing absolutely nothing is beyond compare for our psyches, and I agree. Whatever we call it, I’m all for recharging, and in fact I am doing it right now–although obviously since I’m typing this, I’m not doing “nothing,” right?
When I was younger I would make a daily list for what I needed to do. Now that I am retired, the only time my time is organized is if I have an appt. I have really come to appreciate my casual approach to life. A lot of the things I worried about were not necessary. I am not physically able to do much now. I do have adventures through books!