In Praise of Sitting on My Lily Pad

I've found in the natural rhythm of my life, there are certain months that I just need to go underground.  Like a bear or a caterpillar, I feel the need in February and July to take some time for myself to hibernate and cocoon.  To simply be and not do.  

Eventhough I often emerge on the other end of it renewed and reinvigorated, I'm only now learning to just go with it.  In the past, there has been some guilt attached to it, like I should be producing more, doing more at this time.  Struggling against what my body seems to crave & need, pushing against the current to fulfill some unknown entity's idea of what I should be doing.

Now I'm going to endeavor to just luxuriate in it or "swim around it it" (to borrow a phrase from Meg Ryan's character in the movie "French Kiss").  I realize that as an entrepreneur, a wife, a homeowner, a daughter, an aunt, a friend, there are plenty of weeks and months when I am constantly doing something and when the iPhone and MacBook are a fixed presence at my side (or on my coffee table for that matter).  

I also realize that although it seems like I'm not doing anything, I'm actually doing a lot.  I'm reading (I can't even count how many books I've read this July), I'm cooking, I'm napping, I'm watching movies, I'm spending time with my lovely husband.  I'm living!   

These two months are the time for me to just be gentle with myself, to power-down and not question the process.  It might look a lot like laziness but what I've come to understand is that it is a crucial part of who I am and how I can do what I do the rest of the year.  I need down time.  I need to sit on my lily pad and sun myself on a rock.  How else will I have the energy to leap into action when I need to?

So here's to sitting on a lily pad and to getting back into the swing of things! 

Laura
xo