The Art of Doing Nothing

I adore the business of summer.  Up early, exercising, out on the water, hiking, beach….but every once in a while I love the art of doing nothing.  I just had this type of weekend.  This is sometimes a hard concept for me, and probably a lot of people, but I think it is a great necessity in life.  The ability to fully relax, check out of everything, and have no worries.

We just spent a four-day weekend camping at Benewah Lake.  I was so excited about this trip, even though we had just been camping 2 weeks ago, but this time….our whole family went.  The Nilg-Fam-Five as we call it.  This is a hard feat for us to pull off now, since our son moved out a year ago, and our daughter works so much, and is getting ready to go back to school.

Our first day there, none of our kids came.  We were camping only with our friends, who when they woke up on Friday, had to run back home to Coeur d’Alene for the day.  This day…was our day of relaxing, and doing nothing.  Greg and I spent the ENTIRE day relaxing. Lying in our hammock.  Reading.  Taking a nature walk.  Laughing at the unruly squirrels, who found it absolutely necessary to taunt and chatter at our crazed Yorkie Terrier. 

As we lounged in the sunshine, I found myself so utterly relaxed that I felt almost drunk.  I suppose in a way I was….drunken on tranquility and peacefulness.  Now that’s my kind of liquor.  Sometimes it is good to grab yourself by the collar, give yourself a shake, and remind yourself there is no need to be “doing something.”  And that doing absolutely nothing is perfectly, OK!   It centers us.  Brings us back to neutral.  Allows our mind and body to heal.  Gives us time to day dream, pray, meditate, loosen up, and de-stress.

A lot of times, I am so busy, that when I have time to sit, I FEEL like I need to be doing something.  I am learning to be ok with doing nothing.  And this day….we honed in on our skill.

Of course that Friday evening, the whole gang showed up, and the party started!!  Greg and I cherished having ALL of our kids there.  We knew it would be the last time, for a while.  Those darn kids are hard to corral once they get a life, and move out!

So this camping trip was like no other. We ate junk camping food.  We smoked cigars.  We drank beer and Bloody Marys.  We belched.  Slept late.  And stayed up late!  We told funny stories.  Watched the stars.  Jumped off the train trestle (well the kids did) Swam with the dogs.  Farted (well the guys did)… We laughed so hard we couldn’t see straight……which is a usual occurrence in our household, but these out- door nights were exceptional.   The entire weekend was magical.  And memorable.  The nights spent around the campfire, days lounging.  A much needed solstice for all of us, from the ordinary of everyday life.  Couldn't have gotten much better!!

After that trip, I have committed to myself, to be more aware of my time.  To be aware when I am feeling like I need to be “doing something” and to be completely alright and content to do nothing, if I chose to.  I need to be greedy with my time, because if I am not, and I continue to be “busy” I may miss some pretty terrific times in my life.