Weekend Challenge: Just "Be" For Two Days

I'm struggling. I fully intended to take this year off to re-calibrate my life. I was biting off more than I could chew, between wholesale orders, my own online store, staying home with the kids, and keeping house. I could feel my body suffering for it. It was not how I wanted to feel at 28 years old.

I closed my online store and stopped accepting wholesale orders. I started exercising more, and was more careful about what I ate. I went to bed earlier and felt more rested.

Then it happened: that urge to create. And once I start creating, I want to share it. When I share it, I want people to be able to buy it, if they like it. The retail shop re-opened. I started accepting wholesale orders. Everything that comes with that crept back into my life: answering emails; staying up too late; marketing/advertising; hours editing photos; you know the drift. It starts to feel like you constantly have to be "on", and must always be productive. I shouldn't be resting if I could be getting more done.

A few weeks ago, Desha Peacock asked me, "what's your word for 2014?" I said "refresh", because that's how this year started out, and that's how I want to finish it. This year is supposed to be about feeling refreshed, slowing down, and being present in the moment. Somewhere along the way, I got off track.

Desha just had her first book published, and I am so excited to have a small cameo in it. The book is: Create the Style You Crave on a Budget You Can Afford: The Sweet Spot Guide to Home Decor, and Desha sent me a copy of it last week. When I opened the package, I was delighted to find a beautiful feather, embellished with my word for 2014:

REFRESH

I've been keeping it in a vase on my dining room table and it's wonderful, daily reminder of what I really want every day, and how I want to feel.

Here's a challenge you can do with me this weekend if you need to feel present in life again as well: this weekend, just be. Just be in the moment, enjoying life around you.

These are some of the things that help me feel refreshed:

Turning off the computer for two whole days. Going out and doing something I've been wanting to do for a long time (new exhibit at the art museum). Visiting with family. Taking the kids on a picnic. Sitting for 30 minutes and feel the breeze (mojito in-hand). Only checking at the end of the day; Going to the market to buy fresh ingredients and spending an hour or more cooking an amazing dinner (or getting my favorite thing at my favorite restaurant!). Reading a book for fun (I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series for a second time!); playing board games with the kids; doing yoga or pilates; going out for ice cream; making a painting just for me.

What would you do with 2 whole days to just "be"?