Stop and smell the ocean

This week has left me nearly flattened. Another girl in our office recently quit, so I'm doing my job and hers in the interim. It's doable, but only if I go at a breakneck pace. It came to a point today where I could finish the project I was working on and go home, or start a new project and be there for at least another hour. I decided to go home.

I am so beyond blessed that a good chunk of my daily commute is right against the ocean. Normally, I roll down my window and let that suffice, but it had been so long since I'd truly appreciated it that I did what I really ought to do much more frequently. I pulled over and got out, plopped myself in the grass and closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and listened to the waves crash against the rocks.

It is so rare any more that I just take time to be. When I was a student, I would take an hour and nap under a tree on campus to enjoy a pretty day. It's hard to do that when you work full time, but I'm so desperately in need of that kind of space in my life. Space to just think... and to listen.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Lenten season. Most of the time, people think of what they're going to give up for Lent- usually some vice like coffee or chocolate. I'm thinking that perhaps this year, I need to do things differently. I need to take breaks and breathe. Maybe I'll give up stress for Lent.