Stop, Breathe, and Take a Break

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  This past week I was stressed-out.  Mid-terms and graduate-school applications had me pulling my hair.  Have you also been stressed-out lately? Well, maybe this poem, “How to Leave the World that Worships should” by Ros Barber, will help. 

How to Leave the World that Worships should by Ros Barber

Let faxes butter-curl on dusty shelves.
Let junkmail build its castles in the hush
of other people’s halls. Let deadlines burst
and flash like glorious fireworks somewhere else.
As hours go softly by, let others curse
the roads where distant drivers queue like sheep.
Let e-mails fly like panicked, tiny birds.
Let phones, unanswered, ring themselves to sleep.

Above, the sky unrolls its telegram,
immense and wordless, simply understood:
you’ve made your mark like birdtracks in the sand -
now make the air in your lungs your livelihood.
See how each wave arrives at last to heave
itself upon the beach and vanish. Breathe.

I hope you enjoyed the poem.  Here is what I believe Barber has to tell us:

Sometimes our lives become hectic.  We have numerous tasks to complete in little time.  We throw up our hands and scream, “Give me a break!”  However, our oversized-to-do lists tell us that we have no time for breaks.  Thus, we suck it up and keep on working, only to crash later down the road.   

But Barber tells us that when our tasks become plenty, we should stop, breathe, and take a break; for not doing so causes us to become stressed and prohibits us from doing our best.    

Therefore, when our tasks get out of hand, we must remember to take a break.  In addition, we must remember to actually enjoy our break and not worry about our tasks.  (Worrying about our tasks will not get them completed.  They will still be waiting for us once we return.  Thus, it’s ok for us to forget about them for a while.)  After our break, we will be able to return to our tasks with alertness and enthusiasm.      

So while you’re writing your 20-page paper for class, finishing a memo for work, or constructing the guest-list to your wedding, remember to stop, breathe, and take a break!  You will get your tasks completed.  Trust me, you will.  BUT! Don’t take a break for too long (I know, there’s always some catch isn’t it?).  Remember that our tasks can’t complete themselves (although if they could, that would be awesome).  Sadly, we are still the only ones who can finish them.