When your to do list keeps piling up, and you have goals to focus on, and you can feel your stress starting to boil up, it may be time to check in with your body.

I normally only start listening to my body demanding a break after I get sick. I will continue to take on more and more until I get sick – which makes me mad at myself because I can’t accomplish as much if I am almost drowning in congestion. When the worst of it passes and I start to feel minimally better, I tend to look for something simple to do. Enough of something to keep me from sleeping all day, but not enough to drain me either. I generally lean on my crafting hobbies. I start doing a simple project that I enjoy. After too much time passes, I start beating myself up for doing it instead of tackling some of the items on my to do list. It takes my loving husband to remind me that, every now and then, a break is ok. AND that it is just as useful sometimes as getting everything crossed off any old list!

As I sit with a bit of a sniffle and an occasional cough, I realize how rarely I just sit and let my mind wander.

Getting sick can often be a sign of too much stress. The stress that builds up is due to all the noise! Most of the noise that is actually overwhelming us, is internal noise rather than external noise. It’s the constant tracking of lists, and to do items, and meals, and lunches, and cleaning, and work, and kids, and social lives, and on and on! I suppose it’s why some people like yoga, or meditating, while others might go for a walk or run to clear their head. For me, this time – it changes often – it’s all about the diamond art! The monotony and satisfaction of sticking those tiny gems onto a huge sticker is enough to keep me from getting through my to do list.

Sometimes you just need to stop the busyness, stop the lists, stop the productivity! Sometimes you just need to immerse yourself in some kind of special thing for just a little while and really let your mind subconsciously figure out your stress, or nurse yourself back to wellness.

There’s not always a need to stay in the fast lane, sometimes the best parts of the road trip are the adventures at the pit stop.

Slow your life down from time to time, and take a break! Listen to your body!

What do you do when the noise inside you is too much to take? Or when you need to just slow life down for a while?

Thanks for coming home!

Thought I’d share my progress, just for fun: