Join my mailing list to be the first to know about my new releases, books slated for release in 2019, giveaways, and more. Follow me on Amazon and Goodreads! Love Games (Holiday Heartbeats #2) is now available wherever eBooks are sold. 

We Need Some Down Time

Now that the Ides of March is near, we’re incredibly close to ending the first quarter of the year. That just blows my mind. Too many things have been happening, and I honestly have no desire to keep up with it all. My To Do list is long enough, thank you very much. Nevertheless, I keep adding tasks to my ever-expanding Get-It-Done board. At this point, I’ve completely abandoned my digital calendars in favor of the old-school ones because I just have too much to do. Stop reminding me of that, Google Calendar!

Search for Silence Beyond the Noise

It’s amazing to have a sweet small child at this point in my life because I get first-hand lessons on how to quickly distill things down to what’s really important. One thing that I’ve realized is quiet time is essential for everyone. Every evening, my Little Man and I will sit and listen to our breathing – and yes, we play fantastically crunchy, ambient music in the background. It’s so exciting to see how calming this ritual is as we transition from an exciting day to sleepy bedtime. I hope that this self-calming technique will be one that he’ll be able to use well into adulthood.

Why am I sharing our family bedtime routine with you? Well, it’s because I realized how much I’m benefitting from this as well. Taking the time to turn off devices, sitting in bed with my favorite little person in the whole world while my husband enjoys a few moments of quiet time himself is tremendously rewarding. I find that the simplicity of it all brings a satisfying sense of fulfillment. I’ve also noticed that with these mental pauses, I’m able to let go of trivial things that stressed me during the day. The best advantage is that I’ve been able to bring more clarity to my ideas, streamlining them into feasible projects!

As we chase behind social media, trends, hot topics, the next thing, and so on, it’s terrifyingly easy to burn ourselves out, to drain what’s left of our energy - just to spend one more hour online. What exactly are we searching for?

Only you can answer that, and it will change day by day. But maybe consider inserting a pause or two every now and then. It’s a great way to recharge before jumping back into the race.

Sending Love and Light to all of you.

©Atina Atwood 2019 Exploring Love and Life, One Word At A Time.™

– Atina Atwood is a southern girl who moved from Europe to the West Coast. A former university professor in Germany and California, Atina stepped away from Academia to focus on her miracle child, life, love, food, quilting, and of course, Romance. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for more, and sign up for Atina’s newsletter here.