I am a firm believer that everyone deserves off-days. Days when they can do everything wrong and eat as much chocolate as they want and feel like the world is out to get them. Everyone deserves those days.
Yesterday was my off-day. And first, let me tell you the three things that actually went well yesterday:
1. I went to the gym.
2. I wore shorts on our sunny afternoon walk to the park.
3. I made chicken alfredo for dinner and it totally hit the spot. (and when I say I made, I mean pasta-roni did all of the work and I cooked it up. don't go thinking I made fettuccine from scratch or anything like that.)
So I take those three things and think, well that's all I really needed to get done right? Good.
You see...sometimes I get bored playing with mister J all day long. I mean, I love the kid but it must be the age difference or something. And somedays I am lazy. The kind of lazy where I figure, hey I went to the gym so I can eat cookie dough and popcorn for lunch right?
The kind of lazy where I have dust bunnies on the bathroom floors and mouthwash stains in the sink, but I tell myself it's okay to watch season five of Scrubs during little guy's nap time instead of cleaning.
The kind of lazy where seven o'clock rolls around and I feel like mister J can entertain himself in the playroom watching Wreck It Ralph for the second time while I watch the live shows on The Voice.
See what I mean? It was an off-day. I think it has something to do with the fact that my main man is spending every extra second he has in the yard dedicating his life to our landscaping and I feel somewhat neglected. I mean, who will do the dishes while he is working so hard on the yard? I didn't realize it folks, but it looks like I am the one that has to do the dishes when he's not around. Apparently two years old is just too young, and I bet the dog wouldn't do any good, so that leaves me. And do you know what I've done for the past two weeks straight? DISHES, that's what. They never end! I am *this close* to buying all things paper to eat and drink with.
I will never take my husband and his dirty dishes duty for granted, ever again.
And for that matter, sprinklers! And grass! I will never take them for granted either. Because you don't realize what you do or don't have until you do or don't have it. Isn't that how it goes?
Anyway, the off day surely was justified, because from here on out this week I am working three 8 hour shifts, we have a date night planned to celebrate our three year anniversary, I'm running a 5k and then Mothers Day plans are shooting through the roof! So...no more off-days for me this week. I'm over it.
But here's the thing that I've learned, the thing I needed to know in order to keep my sanity: EVERYONE DESERVES OFF-DAYS. You. Me. EVERYONE. And the stipulation is that you can't feel guilty at the end of the day. Guilt will eat you alive and ruin your self worth. Kick it out the window, because it's silly. At the end of your off-day just remember that you can sleep twelve hours (no? just me?) and that tomorrow morning you will have a clean slate. You can pick yourself back up and try again. You might do better, you might not, but you live with the hope that you will always have another day with another clean slate. Another day to try.
If you really think about it, off-days kind of make the world go round. It's a viscious cycle, but come on...without them, how would we ever know just how good we really have it? How would we ever know what we have that we shouldn't take for granted?
It's okay to crawl back in bed sometimes and sleep the day away. It's okay if your kids watch a movie five times in one day. It's okay if you don't feel like scrubbing the toilets. It's okay if you put way too much butter on your popcorn and finish it off with a slice of chocolate cake. It's okay if you can only cook from a pasta-roni box. It's okay if you go to bed at nine and don't wake up until eight o'clock the next morning.
It's okay you guys.
Here's to off-days!
PS Is today your off-day? If it is, take twenty minutes to watch this. Unless you're not in the mood to think, then I suggest you wait until you can take it all in. It's pretty amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment