I overheard two women in the elevator talking about changing their clocks this weekend. “We go back on daylight saving time Sunday morning,” one of them said. Whoo! I thought. I get an extra hour of sleep!
Then I remembered it’s “spring forward, fall back.” Clocks are turned forward an hour for DST, meaning I’ll lose an hour of sleep if I get up at the same time as usual. Darn.
Still, that got me thinking: What if, every so often, we gave ourselves an extra hour to do something to renew ourselves? Not necessarily to sleep (though if that’s what you need more than anything, go for it). But to take a break from the busy-ness of our lives. To quiet our minds and let the tension out of our bodies.
Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I suspect that’s why I come back from lunch-hour cycling class feeling refreshed. I can’t edit stories or conference call or check email while I’m on my bike. All I can do is ride. There’s a bonus: Some of my best story ideas come to me on the bike, even though I’m not thinking about work at all. Perhaps it’s because I’m not thinking about work at all.
Go ahead, take an extra hour for yourself. You’ll feel renewed in so many ways—body, mind, spirit, positive attitude. I’m positive about that.
