Vacation Refresh

I don't know why it's happened and I don't know how long it will last, so I need to commemorate it to maximize the effect:

I feel refreshed after vacation. 

And there is no special reason I should feel so zen -- my baby is sick, my toddler was a handful, we are jetlagged and therefore sleep-deprived, and work remains stressful. And yet -- zen I do indeed feel. 

I read the Bible and prayed this morning. Not just as an emergency bandaid for a saddened heart. Not just to prep for Sunday school. Not just in devotional from my feed. But intentionally and exploratorily, with open hands. 

I let laundry languish. I skipped cooking. I haven't make a shopping list. I haven't vacuumed the floor or wiped down the toilet or plugged my overgrown eyebrows. I am doing only the essentials. Which is not to say I won't ever do these things again! But I don't feel a frantic buzziness to do everything all at once. Everything will be done in its own time. 

Before I left, I was thinking daily of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and the struggle of implementation. I was flooded with cortisol. I couldn't tolerate my own impatience. And to be sure, I have things to address. Fallow ground to break. 

But now I have slack in my muscles. Space in my ribcage. Room to relax and resist the triggers. Clearance to be self-aware. And I am very, very thankful.