The beauty of refreshing rain and looking after yourself.
It’s raining and it is raining hard. I’m looking out of the window thinking to myself, ‘I have to go out in that!’ I can’t choose not to or else my 5-year-old won’t get home from school. The school run is not my favourite thing to do in a day and according to some of the Mums I’ve spoken to it’s not theirs either. Anyway, off I go all sorted in my rainy day jacket and my yellow wellies.
“It’s always a nice day ABOVE the clouds”
I wear glasses so the rain is not my best friend when it comes to being able to see where I’m going. Have I remembered to put a little cloth in my pocket to dry them when I get to the bus stop? No, of course I haven’t! That means that I’m going to have to open up my coat and pray that I’m wearing some cotton top and not a woolly one. It’s all good, I had a cotton T-shirt on. My fully functioning sight is back. Quick phone check to see how long it is till the bus comes. Great, I’ve got 7 minutes. 7 full minutes of time to just do nothing. I look across the road at people also heading off to their schools to pick up their children, getting drenched on the way. I watch the rain pouring onto the leaves of the trees lining the path and see them bend under the weight of the rain.
Rain Is Good
Rain is a beautiful thing. Probably best enjoyed inside, but I do know people who love to be out in the rain (I am not one of them). Rain washes away the dust and dirt that builds up in places. Rain infuses our plants and trees with life. Rain refills the dams and reservoirs and those that live in places where the rain fills their barrels. I have often thought about doing a stint of living off the grid, but in reality I might last only a few days.
Like the grass and the trees without rain, we can become jaded and lifeless looking when we are over-tired, overrun and in general overdoing things. When we have the eternal lists of jobs that need doing, things that need to be paid, kids that need attention, partners that need attention, we need to keep in mind that we need to refresh ourselves. It’s important to take the time to have a few minutes where those minutes are dedicated to just us. Time for refreshing ourselves works just like the rain does on a dry lawn; it brings it back to life.
5 Things To Do To Refresh Yourself
1) Switch off your phone, shut your laptop and just breathe. Open a window and just listen to the sounds of outside for even just a few moments.
2) Lie flat out on your couch or your bed, put on some relaxing music set an alarm on your phone for 10 minutes and enjoy the peaceful ten minutes of tuning into the music.
3) Soak in a warm bath. I can highly recommend bath bombs from
4) Meditate
5) Light exercise – walk around your block.
It is important that you know you are important. It’s so easy to focus on all the things that you need to do in a day and forget that you need to look after yourself. We are all allocated the same 24 hours a day. Using those hours wisely to get what’s important done and even saving 24 hours where we do absolutely nothing is a good start on staying in a refreshed place, not getting all dry and crusty. Be intentional with your time. Get a diary, time-block your day.
Meanwhile back at the bus stop, the 7 minutes are up. The bus has arrived, windows all steamed up with all the wet people drying out. Mask on, glasses immediately steam up. I can’t see a thing, praying I don’t step on anyone’s toes as I shuffle blindly up the bus, peering through the steam to try and find a seat. As I sit down and look at the water running down the inside of the window I use the time to pray for my friends who are also battling through the elements to collect their children too.
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