I’ve talked a lot about intention in this blog over the years, mostly trying to figure out how exactly it works. Lately, I’ve been thinking about the only time in my life when I felt like intention was really clear. It was back in college, when I’d meet my friends at the bar on a Friday night, and the intention was to have fun! So you’d had a crappy week, so your roommate was late with the rent again, so your boss docked your pay for no good reason, so the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Who cared! We commiserated with each other for a few minutes, and then said, “Screw it. Let’s have some fun.”
The whole point of those evenings was to blow off steam. It was to forget your troubles, to laugh, to dance, to sing along with the band. It didn’t mean the bad things were going to go away, it just meant that for one night, they didn’t get to be in charge.
Fast forward to a time in my life when most of my friends are dealing with serious problems with kids, aging parents, houses in need of repair, disillusionment and exhaustion with jobs they’ve done for years, concerns about finances and politics and health issues. Oh my God, so much to worry about. And I’m right there with them. This is serious stuff. It needs to be addressed. But we humans are not meant to carry such heavy burdens without once in a while setting them down and taking a rest.
We can handle a lot. We do handle a lot. True, there are times in life that are definitely harder than others and you just have to get through them. But the rest of the time, it helps to stop once in a while and let it all go. It’s not privileged to forget your troubles for a night. It’s not irresponsible to put aside your worries now and then. It doesn’t make you a bad person if once in a while you just can’t be that shoulder to cry on. And if someone judges you because you’re having fun when you should be, what, grieving, toiling, struggling, fretting, then let them. If they can’t see that raising your vibration for a bit will give you even more strength and calm and wisdom to take care of the things you need to take care of, screw ‘em.
So, I’m taking a couple of days off to have some fun. No work talk. No problem-solving. No feeling bad about what I “should” be doing. And no inner work, either. I’m leaving my inner child at home. She’s gotten a bit whiny lately. And I’m leaving my inner critic at home. She’s been awfully nit-picky. And I’m leaving my taskmaster at home, because she doesn’t know how to have fun anyway. I’m packing my sense of humor, my adventurous spirit, and my openness to awe. Instead of focusing on all that needs to be done (and there’s plenty) I’m going to celebrate all that has been done.
I have a new favorite song called, “Toast,” by Smith and Thell. It takes me back to those college days when we danced off our grievances. The chorus goes, “So let’s toast for all the bad times, toast for all the hard nights, toast for all the douchebags that’s been breaking our hearts . . .” In verse 2, though, they sing, “But I see the lows now, as a trampoline straight up.”
I recommend you find that song and sing it at the top of your lungs. Cuz this glorious life of ours can be heavy, and sometimes you just gotta lighten up.
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