How to Slow Down, Relax, and Enjoy Your Life
Are you tired of running on empty and feeling stressed out? Do you want to learn how to slow down, relax, and enjoy your life? Today, we’ll talk about several simple ways to find the peace you crave.
How to Slow Down, Relax, and Enjoy Life
I take myself to the woods on a warm autumn afternoon, and the golden canopy gazes down like God bottled up all the happiness in the world and imbibed it into the maples. Going to the woods is my way of stepping out of life’s rushed rhythms.
I open my Bible to these familiar words: “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
In the silence of the woods, I am reminded that rest is more than just something we do or something we plan into our weeks.
Rest is a state of the soul.
Rest is a mind fixed on Christ, leaning into him, and living in tune with his rhythms.
Jesus’ Example
Jesus’ rhythms are strikingly different than my often-hurried rhythms. Not one time in Scripture do we see Jesus in a hurry. He doesn’t get himself worked up over getting to the next ministry site on time. He doesn’t stress over the darkness falling over the hungry crowds. The Sermon on the Mount never mentions fitting as much as possible into our days.
So why do we fill our days to the brim, forcing ourselves into rushed rhythms we’ll never be able to peacefully maintain?
The reality is that I often have more of a choice than I realize when it comes to hurrying.
All too often, in my quest for productivity, I aim to fit more into my minutes than what is reasonable. One more basket of laundry, one more dish in the sink, and one more wipe-down of the countertop might not seem to hurt anyone. However, when the cost is a loss of peace, which ultimately results in snapping at the people I love most, hurrying is destructive.
How to Slow Down
So what does it look like to slow down? Let’s look at a few suggestions:
1. Refuse to multitask.
It took me decades to discover that multitasking is a joy-stealer and peace-crusher. We live in a world where production is praised, and we buy the lie. We spend many of our moments simultaneously completing multiple tasks at once.
What if you decided not to help your child study for the spelling test, cook dinner, feed the baby, and listen to a podcast at the same time? What if you committed to fast from multitasking and see what happened in your life? (Read more about my journey with this here.)
Our society applauds us for multitasking. However, scientific research suggests the negative effects of this practice: Multitasking simply doesn’t work. More than this, multitasking feeds the idol of productivity. It pulls our attention in multiple directions at once, and we fail to be fully present in our moments.
2. Be honest about the reality of your actual life.
What is the reality of your actual life? Are you living within the realistic boundaries of this reality? Or are you trying to force your own reality despite the season that has currently unfolded in front of you?
These questions followed me for months after the birth of our third child. I hurried from one task to the next, frustrated by the lack of time for cooking meals, folding laundry, and teaching the 5-year-old his ABCs.
Finally, I realized it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t my fault that cooking dinner, folding laundry, and teaching the alphabet had to wait until my husband returned home. The reality of my life was a very full schedule with three young children at home. Every time I tried to force my own agenda, I found myself in a hurry – trying to accomplish more than what was reasonable.
Are you weary from trying to do more than what is actually possible in your current season of life? Take some time to assess the reality of your actual life, and offer yourself grace to live within those limits.
3. Accept God’s plan for your days.
Part of accepting the reality of your actual life is accepting God’s plan for your days. If you are hurrying, you are not embracing God’s best for you because his plan is never for a rushed, frantic, hurried way of living.
Take a hard look at where you might need to bow out of some of your commitments and create the life you actually want to live. Remember, you get to create the life you want to live. You can choose to jump into the current of fast-paced living, stress-filled days, and hurry; or you can choose a life with margin time, space to breathe, and space to actually enjoy your life.
A Free Devotional to Help You Slow Down
I have a gift for you today: My online devotional Unrushed: Slow Your Pace and Embrace the Fully-Present Life. This is a powerful journey into a life that is more present and peaceful. Click here, and I’ll send this free resource to your email inbox!
These Two Books are Free on Kindle Unlimited as eBooks and Also Available in Print:
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. Lean Into Grace: Let God’s Grace Heal Your Heart, Refresh Your Soul, and Set You Free shares practical ways to experience God’s freedom, healing, power, and presence in your life. Find this life-changing book in eBook form for free on the Kindle Unlimited Plan or for 12.99 in print right here. (You can sign up for a free three-month Kindle Unlimited trial if you are not a member.) This book will transform your life and revitalize your relationship with the Lord!
Calling All Moms and Daughters!
Additionally, my 12-year-old daughter, Bekah, and I wrote a mother-daughter devotional book to help mothers and daughters grow closer together while connecting with God. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith includes 60 devotions with Scripture, commentaries from both of us, conversation starters, and even a shared journaling section. Multitudes of mothers, daughters, mentors, and younger women are being transformed by this book! You can find this book in eBook form for free on the Kindle Unlimited Plan or buy a print copy for 11.99 right here.
