Without Lazy Days, We’d All Be Insane!

Daily writing prompt

Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

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I had to stop believing that idle hands are the devil’s playground. When I found myself just sitting and doing nothing, I felt so guilty. We were raised to find something to do or make up work, so my home was spotless, but I was worn out. I was busy right up to bedtime, and sometimes I still wondered if I had left something undone.

During one period in the 1990s, I worked 40 hours or more whenever I could get overtime, volunteered at the local women’s shelter, and took three college courses, aiming to make all As. I still had a child at home. I think I averaged three to four hours of sleep. This went on for months, until one day, I had anxiety attacks so bad that I couldn’t go to work. The panic attacks had been happening, but I didn’t recognize them as a warning from my body or from the Lord.

I spent 28 days in an inpatient mental facility, locked up away from my family. Even there, I tried to “work”, taking care of younger patients, until I was told to stop and concentrate on myself. I finally realized that I would only get well if I stopped believing that I needed to keep busy or that I was wasting time.

I now relish the lazy days. I appreciate that they are meant to be times of refreshing, when our bodies send us messages of exhaustion that we must heed. Our bodies, minds, and souls need moments of rest, wherein we laugh, listen to music, get outside and see nature in its beauty, and just sit still and let God take care of us. Even when I travel now, I refuse to try to see it all, thinking I’ve got to get my money’s worth. Instead, I sit at the beach and just stare at the ocean, knowing I am doing something important for myself.

Lazy days will save our sanity and remind us that we are not robots. There are opportunities to reflect on how blessed we are, to love being alive and having fun. Take them when you feel you need one. If someone apologizes to me for sleeping and missing a call, or if students tell me they overslept, I would tell them that oversleeping means they need more rest and accept their apologies. I gave the students extensions on their papers because I believed I would receive better work from a rested mind. Lazy days will keep us healthy, wealthy (in joy, peace, and love), and wise. Use them, and don’t apologize!

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