Doing Nothing

Very rarely do I find time to do nothing. Usually, I can always find something to do so I'll sit down for just a moment and then jump right back up and do it. It drives my kids crazy because they can always seem to find time to be completely idle.

I have gotten better as I've gotten older at purposely doing nothing. Spring is a good time to do nothing in my backyard. I love my backyard. When we moved her almost eleven years ago, I felt like we had hit the lottery. Four acres of land, land where the kids could run and fly kites. Enough room to have bonfires and volleyball games. We could yell and scream and not disturb anyone. I remember the first time I sat on the back porch and drank my coffee. I told my husband that I felt like I was on vacation. I still feel that way. Even though sometimes it seems like the work will never end, I still feel that same joy at the end of the day.

Today I worked really, really hard and it felt really good. Good physical work. I planted most of my garden. All that is left is the okra, corn, squash, watermelon and cantelope. I'll probably wait another week for those because they need really warm soil. I transplanted plants from inside the house to outdoor pots. I cleaned off the backporch so I can enjoy dining al fresco soon. I was really pooped by the time I finished all that but I knew I still had to cook dinner.

I decided that I needed a twenty minute do-nothing rest. I went to one of my favorite places, my hammock. My hammock hangs between a pecan tree and a big old hackberry tree in the backyard. It overlooks the garden, the kids playset and trampoline and the woods behind my house. In those woods live a little bit of everything. We've seen deer, turkey, foxes, birds, squirrels and rabbits just to name a few. I enjoy laying in the hammock, doing nothing, listening to the animals exploring the woods or my children playing out in nature. Doing nothing for me takes work. I have to purposely put all the things I need to do out of my mind and just focus on enjoying the moment.

After my twenty minute sway in my hammock just listening to nature all around me, I felt refreshed. I felt like I could go on and cook dinner and get all the things that needed to be done, done. Nature had refreshed me. I think we all need green time. When we get too disconnected from nature we lose our focus. Sometimes I just need to get refocused.