"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it."-Ferris Bueller.

My family stopped and smelled the roses this weekend. We went out to Vernal Pools and Tenaja Falls for a little hiking and get-away. It was a lovely day and do you know why? No cell phone reception. Which means I didn't check my email or make any calls. This was time away that I needed, that my family needed. I was very glad for a reprieve from the daily grind that seems to be so relentless these days.

How many of you got away from work this weekend? I mean really got away? It's very easy, while away from work, in this technologically-driven time to access emails, voicemails, check in on social networks, review proposals, send proposals, write proposals, catch up with work-related reading, and so on. It is becoming increasingly difficult, even if you stay away from your office, to truly take a weekend. Every so often, you need to take that break and rejuvenate. Believe it or not, this will save you precious time in the long run.

When you don't take time to recuperate from the stressors of your working life, you reduce the amount of regeneration that takes place in your mind and in your body, thus slowing your progress during the work week. Not only does fatigue wreck its havoc but daydreaming slips in and out during your day and throughout the week, causing non-productivity and further exhaustion. Weariness has a tremendous effect on us and we don't even realize what we are suffering from. Most of us claim just the opposite: "I must not be working hard enough, because I just can't seem to get anything done."

Our bodies need the respite in mind, spirit and body that a weekend can provide. Just one or two short days to sleep a little later, spend some extra time with the family, take the dog for a longer walk, stroll through a park, visit with neighbors, start reading a new book, go see a play, spend time with friends, catch a sunset and think about that: the sunset - not the file on your desk or the ten emails waiting in your inbox.

Let go for just a bit - two very short days and enjoy the things you enjoy. Seems simple but when was the last time you did just that? Sometimes, I wish I could be more like Ferris Bueller and embrace the adventurism that lurks deep inside me. I did a little of that embracing this weekend and viewed thousands of wild flowers, hiked a few miles, felt a breeze that smelled good for a change, and captured memories for my personal vault. Now, I can draw from those memories, this week and next, when stress starts to creep in and the phone won't stop ringing. I am refreshed.

Take that deserved break every now and again. You won't be sorry and your body will thank you for it.


The question isn't "what are we going to do," the question is "what aren't we going to do?" -Ferris Bueller

by rayannethorn