Recreation and Play – What Do You Do When You Rest?

I wanted to write this right after my last post about How to Rest, but I had to take a break to wean and write about it.  I know it would have been a better “series” if I went from the The Importance of Rest, to How to Rest, and then to this What Do You Do When You Rest.  But my life doesn’t currently allow me the bandwidth to be so linear.  When something big happens that I don’t want to forget, any  randomness may end up in my next post.

I mean weaning is always a big deal and it is an extra big deal when you do it with a two and a half year old who violently loves to nurse.   Weaning is not completely unrelated to rest.  After the first night, she slept through the night for the first time in possibly a year without asking for ‘meme’ multiple times a night.  I thought this was quite amazing.  Rest 1 Exhaustion 0.  Then I tried to sleep in this weekend I realized she would no longer sleep in.  When the sun came up she used to be allowed to nurse, but then would fall right back asleep for hours.  Now she tells me the sun is up and thinks we must get up too if we are not going to nurse.  Rest 1 Exhaustion 2.

This post is about play and recreation.  What is it that you do that energizes and relaxes you and makes life feel fun, and full, and worth living?  Do you know?

So, a bit of a confession, it is January 14th and I’m STILL working through four different goal setting planners, and haven’t settled on just one.  I figured I’d look at them all, maybe try them a day or two, and then pick one. I kind of love them and God is showing me things through them, so I probably won’t end this week either.  But last week, right as I was writing those last posts about rest, I went to fill out this weekend planner page, and got to the section on recreation goals and I completely drew a blank.   You know I was excited about this weekend planner page when I first saw it.  I absolutely love being purposeful about weekends.  (This is from the Michael Hyatt Full Focus Planner).

The question was simple enough.  RECREATION – How do you want to play this weekend?

The answer was …………………..

I couldn’t think of a single thing.  I had this vague memory of doing something fun several times with Zoya a few months ago, but besides travel . . . blank.

My pastor has talked about recreation before.  Re-Creation.  What renews your creation?

I’ve actually always sort of envied those people who knew what they enjoyed doing.  I once told one of my closest friends that I was the type of person who didn’t care what I did as long as the right people were around and she would do anything she liked and didn’t care who joined.  Okay, yes, now I see why she was offended, but I totally didn’t mean it that way.  I totally admired and even envied her ability to enjoy things and know what she enjoyed.  (It had nothing to do with my liking people more, as it might have sounded.  It probably also meant she liked more people, and I liked fewer people.)

 

The list wouldn’t have been so hard if the weather wasn’t so freaking cold.  I do know I enjoy being outside, but you can’t exactly hike with a toddler when its freezing.

I think the last four months of the year were so busy, I forgot what I do to play. 1. Travel. 2. Hike. The list wasn’t very practical for this weekend.

I mean play doh and finger painting look great on Instagram, but don’t really do much for me.

So you probably read this title and assumed I was going to tell you how to play or what to do, but nope, I really meant it as a question.

What five things would you list as your goals for play next weekend? What would you do if you were purposefully enjoying this life God gave you and being recreated for the week to come?