taking a break

Today I tackled a huge project. I am turning the small bedroom downstairs from a chaotic, messy, drives-me-crazy playroom to a (hopefully) well-organized school room. There was a lot of stuff to pull out of that room. 

This is how my family room looked after I had pulled out all the junk and stuff. This is also where my stress level got to overwhelming and I didn't want to work on the project anymore. That is not a good place to be!

My mind wrestled with whether to leave it for another day or just run on in and tackle it. Usually, I can tackle but today I was really struggling with a lack of motivation. So I compromised.

I went into the bedroom I had been cleaning, sat in the empty closet (away from the chaotic mess in the family room), drank the rest of my ice tea and watched YouTube videos for about 30 minutes.

Sanity restored!  

That small break allowed me to relax and laugh (because YouTube has tons funny stuff!) and to give my brain a break from the task-at-hand (because to be honest, there was no way I would have left that mess in the family room - NO way).

The cleaning project ended up taking me over 4 hours total, so I think I did deserve that break. But the end result was worth it:

    

There are still a lot of little things to get accomplished but now it all seems manageable.

And now my family room looks like this:

I don't know about you guys but sometimes my list of things to do seems consuming. And I feel guilty if I'm not working on it. But you know what? I've discovered if I give myself a break once in a while, cut myself some slack, and allow myself to relax guilt-free, I can focus better on getting projects finished and not giving up on them.

Besides, if Jesus took breaks to rest, I think it's okay if I do too...

Mark 6:31

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."

• KC