31 Days of Learning to Breathe: Stop and Catch your Breath

I've discovered it is certainly hard to post every day. Not for a lack of desire, but sometimes life gets in the way and it doesn't happen, and then by the end of the day we are just too tired to even think straight.

A few summers ago my husband, youngest daughter and  I went on a vacation in the Columbia River Gorge, one of our favorite locations in the PNW. We went on a hike one day and me, being less in shape than the others, was getting tired and very much out of breath. My calves were screaming and I was so close to quitting. But I really wanted to see these particular waterfalls so I kept plugging along. Periodically I would say "I need to stop and rest, you can keep going or just wait". I just needed to stop and catch my breath so I could continue on. I did this as many times as I needed and the reward at the end was worth it. Coming down was so much easier. When I go on hikes, I really like to take my time, not just because I'm not in as good of shape, but because I don't want to miss out on the beauty around me. As we walked the trail, my nature is go slower, observe nature, take it in. My family is a little more "goal" oriented, and while they still enjoy the scenery, they prefer a much quicker pace. Neither is necessarily wrong, BUT sometimes we get going so fast or are trying to keep up, and we are out of breath. We feel like we could just keel over and die at any moment and we miss out on the journey, or we quit, turn around and miss the reward at the end. Sometimes depending on who you are, you may actually even avoid going with people who go "too fast" or "too slow", and ultimately may miss out on some great relational moments. Or the chance to get a good workout. Haha.

Do you find yourself going at life so fast that you are constantly out of breath? Do you forget to slow down enough to enjoy all that is around you? Your family, home, friends, scenery? 

It is so important that we learn to stop and catch our breath. We need to, our family needs us to, our friends need us to, our workplace needs us to. 

Take some time this week to intentionally stop, take a deep breath or two, catch your breath and observe. Just take a moment. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to happen. 

Short and sweet tonight. It was a long day. 



With Joy Unquenchable,