How Will You Spend Your Bermuda Triangle Week?

Raise your hand if you hate this week between Christmas and the end of the calendar year. I can tell you that both of my hands are raised. The kids are out of school, the weight of Christmas activities crushed my routine long ago, and we’re all coming down off a weeks-long sugar high. But, lately, I've wondered if something special can be gained from this time. The holiday parties are over, and there are no more presents to buy or gingerbread houses to frost. We’ve yet to hit the ground running in the new year, so maybe this space is a blessing.

Perhaps this time, which some call the December Bermuda Triangle, is an opportunity for us to rest, refocus, and wait. 

Most of us (women, entrepreneurs, moms) are go-getters. See a problem, fix it. Have a dream; chase it. It’s in our blood. That trait is what helps us achieve, but it also makes it difficult to wait. We see quiet moments as blank canvasses we need to fill with tasks. We should be working, learning, or at the very least keeping up with the lives of strangers on social media. But what if we’re wrong? What if the best thing we can do in quiet moments is to allow them to be quiet?

When you’re trying to build a strong body, you work out your muscles to exhaustion, then give them rest. It’s in the moments of rest that strength is gained. Exercise tears muscle down so that rest can repair them and make them stronger. What if the same is true of chasing your dreams? 

I’m sharing these thoughts as someone who is walking right beside you on this path. A fellow hard-working, rarely-resting woman who enjoys the chase. But what I'm realizing is that as my life gets more and more full (marriage, kids, house, dogs, family, etc.) I can't recover as quickly as I used to. My resources are limited, and if I don't rest physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, I can't grow as much as I want to.

So this week, during the weirdest week of the year when I’m yearning to return to my normal routine, I’m choosing to rest. Just a little bit. I’m giving myself some space to recover mentally from the hustle and bustle of the last year. And, I’m taking some time to imagine what the next year might hold.