Every Once in awhile…Unplug from Life.

Dear Reader:

Don’t we all have days that are so hectic we feel like “re-booting” (Anne’s 2017 word) by unplugging everything in our life and welcoming the peace and quiet that quickly invades our surroundings?

It is amazing how technology changes our every day conversations and movies are dated now by the communication instruments used by the actors in it. The other day the 2000 movie Hanging Up came on one of the cable stations and I found myself watching this chick flick again…and feeling just as tired at the end of the movie as I did the first time I saw it.

The year was 2000 and look at the telephones still being used in the poster. The theme of the movie was the hectic lives of these three sisters trying to cope with raising children, balancing work, and taking care of an elderly father who was showing signs of dementia. Today this movie poster would have all three actresses clicking off their Iphones and the title of the movie would be: “Clicking Off.”

By the end of the movie Meg Ryan’s character pulls out all the phone plugs and dumps the phones in a trash bin, unplugs all the big desk-top computers, then turns off the safety system that annoyingly talks down to her all the time, and falls into a delicious sleep. It was what she needed most of all…a break from daily hectic life where other people put too many constant demands on her.

Maya Angelou, upon finding herself completely exhausted from a talking tour, told one audience that she had decided to finish up her tour with them….her body and soul were depleted: “Each person needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.”

Kate Wolfe-Jenson made this observation in one of her latest posts:

“It’s so easy, these days, to rush from one task to the next, one email message to the next, one drama to the next. We become addicted to the adrenaline rush of making the next check mark, clicking the next link, crossing the next finish line. Bathing our bodies in stress hormones is not conducive to well-being. Instead take time to unwind. Sit in silence. Connect deeply with friends and family. Bask in sacred space.”

Kate loved visiting a Galapagos tortoise who came to the San Diego zoo in 1928 when she was 89. “Galapagos tortoises, the zoo website tells us, “lead an uncomplicated life grazing on grass, leaves, and cactus, basking in the sun and napping nearly 16 hours per day.” Many live to (and over) 150 years.

What would it look like for you to lead an uncomplicated life? Well, why don’t you, at least, treat yourself to one uncomplicated day?

So yesterday, I did treat myself to one quite uncomplicated day. I caught up with some correspondence, made a few telephone calls, started a new book, watered the garden and daffodils.

I then treated myself to a BLT from Matt’s Place and then….and then…true confession time… I got two, not one, but two cupcakes from Bubbie’s Bakery (right next to Matt’s.) *I think I am still about five years old and rationalize the same…after all I need a goodie for each hand. All my children did…especially Mandy at Poppy and Dee Dee’s.

Soon guilt began to creep into my “uncomplicated day”…I needed to do something, accomplish something that I didn’t want to do. Bingo! Start the heinous project of raking the leaves off the driveway that extends into the backyard…outlining Azalea Alley.

I figured maybe I could work a few calories off and give my heart a workout if nothing else. I can cut grass all day, plant flowers most of it, but raking leaves is my number one most un-favorite yard task to do. All that bending and pushing the wheel barrow back and forth.

But I did it…and the job did assuage most of the guilt from one of those persistent seven deadly sins…What is the name of it…oh yeah…gluttony and maybe throw in sloth for good measure.

My Before and After Photos: (I just did the front part of the driveway yesterday…The worst part, the biggest pile of leaves are in the back part of the driveway…blown up against the house (right under my computer room window) and these piles will take many, many wheel barrow loads to complete. But “inch by inch” and “row by row” this project will get done…a little bit each day!

Part One of Project Rake Leaves is accomplished!