A Time of Reflection

Tonight, I go back to work after working only one day in the last nine days. I took the time off because I had two things I wanted to do and because I was involved in one of them, I needed some time to prepare. The weather impacted both events, one was completely canceled, the other one was moved indoors. The time off gave me lots of time to just think about everything I have going on and what I want to accomplish over the next few months. In some ways I feel like I didn’t do much. In other ways, I feel like I got some much-needed clarification on where I want to be. I thought I would read a lot more, but instead I found myself going for walks. Something about being outside just changes things. When you have time away, you really start to realize what you want to do with your time. Because I work an off shift, my schedule didn’t line up with people from work. That means that I didn’t have the option of distracting myself by checking in on people or work. I still talked to a few people, but it felt like I was truly away from work. My biggest takeaway from everything was that I could do a lot more of what I want to do. What I mean by that is that when I look at how I spend my time, it’s doing a lot of things that I really don’t want to do. I think I have mentioned it somewhere before, but I heard someone say that they wanted to stop doing things they liked to do and start doing what they love to do. That made complete sense to me. I hardly watched TV while I was off. I didn’t play games on my phone or spend time on social media. I like to do those things, but I do not love to do those things. I love watching YouTube videos, but I found myself not spending as much time on videos that were just for entertainment. I spent some time with my family, that was amazing. So now the real question becomes, how can I keep focused on the right things after I go back to work? I exercised more than I ever have, my wife and I read a lot more. How can I make sure I have time for those things when I start to get distracted by everything else? One of the things I talk to people about the most is how they feel after a certain situation. If you can remember how you feel, you either want to continue to have that feeling or you will make sure you never feel that way again. I love how I feel after I exercise. I love how I feel after I finish reading a great article or when I am done reading a good book. I love how I feel after I sleep really well. I love how I feel after I have my quiet time. My wife and I had some great conversations this last week. I want more of those conversations! I felt like after talking to her we had planned out some important things that we had been procrastinating on. That was an amazing feeling. I also know how it feels to waste time. I recognize what it feels like to spend time with people who drain me. I want to feel energized when I am done having a conversation with someone. I want to plan my day better. For years I have heard people talk about the benefits of creating a plan for the day the night before. Every single day I had a game plan on what I wanted to get done and at the end of every day, I felt pretty good about what I had gotten done. When I look back on this time off, I want it to be the start of something. I actually posted something on my blog today, it was about wanting to go all in. The main focus was wanting to go all in as a Christian, but I also want to go all in as a husband, and just as a person overall. I don’t want to have those days where I get to the end of the day and feel like it was a wasted day and I miss my wife. I want to be all in and know that at the end of the day I spent quiet time with God, I spent time with my family, and I got things done that needed to get done. Just thinking about that feeling makes me want to make it happen. I encourage everyone to take a look at what is truly important to them. Make sure you make time to get things done. Spend time with people who encourage you and fill you up.