This weekend I was the “laziest” I’ve been in recent memory—I laid on the couch with the boys, we watched multiple movies, we took naps, I watched them play Fortnite, I squeezed in some yoga and weights, and we all just hung out enjoying each other’s company.
It. Was. Great.
Instead of our usual chaotic weekend filled with running to sporting events, squeezing in extra work (it could wait until Monday), cleaning the house, or just constantly being on the go, we just chilled. I wish we did more of this.
It. Was. Great.
Lounging around all weekend isn’t something I recommend for every weekend and I don’t intend on doing it often, but I do plan on implementing a “lazy weekend” at least once a quarter. I also won’t wait for the events that led to our lazy weekend to declare a weekend of nothing…
The Reason For Our Lazy Weekend
Thursday evening I was in the basement with Ang doing an online yoga class while Roman and Leo played soccer outside; in the summer we let them play until it’s dark to take advantage of the good weather. It finally got dark enough for them to come in and I remember seeing a shadow of one of the boys walk by the egress window well. Within a couple of minutes, Roman had joined us in the basement and I assumed Leo was shortly behind him.
He was, but not the way we would have wanted him to be…
The following events happened in what seemed like the blink of an eye…we heard a loud noise…I looked to the window and saw Leo in the window well (I knew there was no good scenario for him to have landed down there)…I ran outside and found Leo already out of the window well bleeding heavily from a nasty gash on his nose; this would not be our first time to the ER for stitches/staples, but it definitely was the worst. There is nothing worse than seeing your child in pain, bleeding, and scared—he kept asking if he was going to die. Once we slowed the bleeding down and I assured him he was going to live, Leo and I raced off to the ER, where we were fortunate to have a great doctor and nurse to stitch him back up.
Despite the scary fall, Leo was very lucky 12 stitches were the extent of his injuries.
Without discussing it as a family, we all agreed that we didn’t really feel like doing much this weekend and just wanted to be with each other. After the events of Thursday night, we just wanted to take it easy. It’s a shame it took Leo’s trip to the ER to cause us to pause, put life’s distractions to the side, and just slow down a bit to focus on each other.
Despite not doing much, it’s been enjoyable. The boys haven’t argued with each other. We haven’t had to discipline them. We’ve all loved on each other a little more.
Thursday night reminded us all how quickly life can change and we were fortunate that life really didn’t change, except for a future scar on Leo’s face. I know as time passes, we’ll drift back to the normal speed of life, but I’ve made it a priority to make sure we don’t need another scare to remind us to slow down every once in a while.
Making The Most Of Our Time Together
Saturday night after the boys went to bed, I read The Family Board Meeting by Jim Sheils in one sitting—it’s a quick read and it’s a book I’ve been meaning to read it since Jim joined The AGC™for a weekly webinar to discuss the book; I highly recommend it to everyone with kids. Tonight Ang and I will work on planning out our “board meetings” with the boys. These board meetings, along with our lazy weekends should give us more time to slow down and enjoy each other even more.
This week my colleague, Thomas Kopelman, wrote a great blog about time being our most valuable asset, and David Perell, one of my favorite writers, also wrote a great essay about time. In his essay, Perell talks about not killing time but making time for leisure.
“But if we see time and money as two sides of the same coin, then time spent not making money is wasted. Thus, our obsession with productivity has the pernicious side-effect of demonizing leisure. But only in leisure can we hear the birds chirping, feel the tingling warmth of a goodnight kiss, or listen to the echoes of the universe.” –David Perell
Prior to Leo’s fall, I would have considered like this weekend was killing time, but it clearly was not. It was much-needed leisure—leisure I want to make sure we make more time for in our lives.
We all live busy lives and many of us feel like if we’re not doing something, we’re wasting (or killing) time, but finding time to do nothing. Be a little lazy. You’ll be thankful you did, trust me.
I encourage you to use our scary reminder as your own to find time to slow down.
Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog should be considered advice, or recommendations. If you have questions pertaining to your individual situation you should consult your financial advisor. For all of the disclaimers, please see my disclaimers page.
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