Pajama Day!
In the last two weeks, there have been days when I don’t know if I’m coming or going, if I’m pitching or catching (I love using that phrase, though I don’t exactly know what it means!). Many-Most of my friends seem to be plagued by the same issue. Everyone is always so, doggone B.U.S.Y.
It’s been so busy, in fact, that I haven’t taken a single day off. Not one. NOT very Silver Lining-y of me is it?!? As a result, I’m feeling pretty wiped out (HA! What an understatement!). As much as I love what I do (love-love-love!), too much of a good thing becomes not such a good thing.
I happen to know a lot of people post cancer who seemingly move at a faster pace than before cancer. It makes me wonder whether losing a year of my life to treatment has resulted in my filling life full to the absolute brim by packing in every single possible minute of each and every day. When I look at it that way, it doesn’t sound so great.
For new readers, in the past, I’ve written about (& promoted) taking a Pajama Day. A Pajama Day is a day in which you unplug and do precisely whatever it is that you feel like doing. The only caveat is that it must include REST and PAJAMAS.
As Tim Kreider so brilliantly wrote in his New York Times article, The Busy Trap,
“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done.”
The thing of it is that I haven’t had a Pajama Day since my anniversary on August 23rd. Gosh, that sure was hard to admit. BUT, Saturday is a FULL-ON Pajama Day that will include:
- NO technology, NO work, NO appointments, NO rushing…
- ALL rest, ALL quiet, ALL relaxation, ALL refueling, ALL family, ALL Silver Linings.
I hope that you will consider taking a Pajama Day. It will be an incredible Silver Lining to your life!
I can't take a Pajama Day Sat.; I have commitments that will take me outdoors. But I do plan on trying one soon, before the busy holidays start.
I like the quote you included from Tim Kreider's article, "The Busy Trap" in the NY Times.
Oh great, Carolee. Sometimes just putting it on the calendar helps immensely!
Good for you, missy, taking your own advice and scheduling a Pajama Day! Reading your most excellent original Pajama Day post was a true Silver Lining for me. Whether a Pajama Day or a (very rare) Pajama Weekend, the concept has saved my (questionable at best) sanity a few times. Wishing you a lovely Silver Lined Weekend!
Yes, Ma'am, E.B. I must say that it was heavenly and I feel SO MUCH BETTER!!!
…. and when you take a pajama day, you give everyone else around you permission to do the same. So I think I speak for all your ten zillion readers and fans when I say THANK YOU, HOLLYE. 🙂
Thanks, dear Frances! It was heavenly!