Long holiday weekends a time to be good to yourself

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Yeah, extra time to buy flowers that you hope the randomly destructive resident squirrels won't immediately dig up. Extra time to write in your personal-interest blogs (like this one and www.biomednews.org).

Extra time to spend with other single friends–at least a spare hour or two they might not be busy catching up just like you are.

Extra time to spend with family members you actually like. Time to finish that good novel you've been sneaking in all week on your breaks.

Time to listen to the fun oldies radio station that you don't listen to all week because you can’t remember to turn it off fast enough when your clients call.

Of course, even if you really have a lot of work to do, you need to do some of these things anyway–for the sake of your spirit or your sanity or whatever "other" side of yourself you normally don't take much care of.

Before I started my writing business I used to dream often of a baby that I'd forgotten about, or left behind, or in some other way neglected. I hated those dreams with a passion. Would wake up guilt-laden and horrified. I figured I was a reasonably good mom, so this seemed like an undeserved but ingenious way to destroy my peace of mind–and they really did.

To my surprise and joy, I noticed after a few months on my own that I couldn't remember having one of those dreams. It's nearly 7 years later, and I've only had one of them once in that time–I think it was when I was working weekends and vacations to meet the months-long irrational demands of a new staff member at one of my corporate clients.

As an amateur psychology nut, my conclusion is that I was the baby in those dreams. And those dreams were warning me that it was myself I was neglecting–I wasn’t nurturing my spirit, my tender, creative side. After all, a baby is nothing if not tender and creative. So my wish for you is that you never need to have bad dreams to force you to take care of your tender and beautiful spirit. Do it now and do it often.

God bless those who suffered and died for their countries–and all their loved ones who suffered losses just as great. Happy long-Memorial-Day weekend.