Recognizing the Pause

Life is designed to have pauses yet we humans fight the signs until our bodies take over and demand them. I felt it coming, I wasn’t picking up a book, I left the paint brush in its box and norms like my morning tea no longer appealed. Still I didn’t pause, then my allergies went into overdrive, adding in a bit of fatigue, forcing the pause.

Do you schedule regular pauses? Do you recognize the signs when you need one and respond appropriately? Or, do you ignore it until it comes at you full force and demands your attention?

A pause is not necessarily a day off or a vacation; it’s a period of respite in our trajectory. Put the books and paints aside, maybe inspiration is trying to find you, maybe it’s not. Walk a different route, engage with different people, wander where you usually don’t wander, try a different morning beverage!

Pausing is imperative. Whether just a few hour streaming break or several days of not pushing ahead. We all have things that must be done; caring for kids, pets and earning an income. But what can wait? What can we take a pass on? What does a pause look like to you? Sitting in silence, walking on the beach, lounging while listening to music, casting a line?

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” -Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off came out the summer I graduated high school. I grew up on writer and director John Hughes films; Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Vacation and Christmas Vacation, and more. I’m curious what impact these films had on my generation? I’ve certainly taken to heart Ferris Bueller’s advise; stop, pause and look around!

Rest! Stay home, opt out of engagements. We may have inherited a programming to believe we need to stay busy, to place value on busyness, to use that busyness to distract us from emotions seeking to be felt. But our legacy can be the value in our capacity to pause, to recognize the need arising and respond to it before our bodies force the issue with an ailment.