Schedule Time for … Nothing

With our wedding less than three weeks away, I’ve been feeling an all too common feeling: the urge to slow down. Not because things are unusually hectic. But because all of these important moments are happening — getting the keys to our first home together, choosing our rings, picking up my dress — and I’m moving too fast to enjoy any of them.

We all are.

We live our lives like we’re on a conveyor belt. Constantly moving forward with never a break or even a pause. Every, single waking moment we fill with something. Working. Cooking. Eating. Cleaning. Talking. Exercising. Blow drying. Shopping. Even our forms of relaxing — reading, listening to music and watching TV — require our brains to be active.

There’s rarely — if ever — a single moment in our days when we do absolutely nothing and let our brains just be. The closest we get is when we’re in the shower. So it’s no wonder it’s when all of our best ideas happen. It’s the only time we ever get to think.

And we need that time. Lots more of it.

Our brains require periods of rest in order to remember and fully process all we learn throughout the day. According to researchers at New York University, those who give their brains a rest have better memories. As in they can recall information better.

But I think they have more than that. I think they have better memories in every sense of the word.

By taking the time to slow down, you can truly appreciate what is happening in your life and throughly enjoy it. Whereas, when you’re constantly on the go, life passes you by. All those important moments — both big and small — happen without us even noticing. And when they’re gone, they’re gone. We never get them back.

So we need to slow down. We need to start scheduling time for nothing. Time to just be and reflect.

I know I’m going to. I’ve already set aside time this last week before we leave for Croatia — for our wedding — to do nothing. Absolutely nothing. So that I can truly appreciate the huge life changing journey I’m about to embark upon.

And I hope you do the same, no matter what stage or place your life is in. You deserve a break. A time for nothing but you and your own thoughts.