Why is stopping long enough to enjoy something so hard?

A few months ago, I took a mandatory two-day mental health break from work, from homeschool, from everything. My brain was simply too tired to think, to plan, to do even one more thing. In fact, I was so over-extended that I had to scale back on everything for a few days to recover. 

No writing, no computers, no cooking, no cleaning, no planning - just being.

I knew I wasn't feeling like myself, and it felt like I could either take a big break or start feeling my body experience something far worse than mental fatigue. So I chose the rest.

On the first evening, I stood on a friend's balcony and caught a glimpse of my little guy (now almost as tall as me) collecting pinecones below and tossing them out as grenades across the woods. I stopped to smile at him, but he was oblivious to my presence. Pretty quickly my old habits kicked in, and I started running through my mental to-do list, thinking I should use the moment to run through the next day's agenda.

But then I realized, "Why shouldn't I take just a minute to clear my mind and watch my baby boy play? Isn't the over-thinking and filling every moment the very reason I had to take this mental health break in the first place? Won't I be sad I didn't enjoy this moment when he's moved off to college in a few short years?" 

So I just watched him, letting a deep sense of gratitude wash over me.

I smiled, my heart grew a few sizes bigger, and I felt more love for my whole family than I had in weeks. In that one moment, I changed just a little bit - I got to know a side of my little boy I often miss because I'm way too often absorbed in my own thoughts and to-do lists. 

That moment helped me take joy in my family, and I promised myself that I would stop more often and start looking for moments like these every single day.

Since then, I've found so many more family moments tucked away, waiting for me to enjoy them. Some have been easy to stop and enjoy, others have been a bit of a stretch, and many I've missed altogether because I've been sending just one more text or answering just one more email.

I know we can't catch them all (there are actually emails we have to answer and stuff we have to do), but each time I grab hold of a moment and stop to enjoy it, I'm changed a little more. And I know it makes a difference.

How do you know it's time to stop and enjoy the good family moments in your world?

Come on over to the email group and share - I'd love to hear all about it!