Thursday June 21 marked the first day of summer, but unfortunately in Chicago the first few days of summer consisted of a down pouring of rain. Luckily Saturday and Sunday turned out to be beautiful, sunshine filled days.
Saturday morning, I woke up not feeling my best and absolutely exhausted. The prior week of work had been busy preparing for a big presentation to our officers, finalizing the categories we will explore for our product launch for Fall 2019 and wrapping of videos and catalogs for Fall 2018. The week before was also a busy week which found me out of town in Portland visiting people in their homes and watching them cook.
So, while I should have been eager to get out and enjoy my weekend, I decided I needed some well-deserved downtime instead and I decided to spend both mornings and early afternoons of this weekend relaxing on my patio.
Does anyone else feel like they should be going all the time? I do! I feel like my “To Do List” is endless and I honestly feel guilty taking time to relax. But it is as important for our health as a balanced diet and exercise. Taking some time to relax helps us manage our stress and anxiety – both of which can overwhelm me more often than I would like.
So, I decided I would take some much needed time to relax and just enjoy my backyard. And boy did I!
I began my time outside sitting on one of my chairs on my patio with my phone in my hand as I browsed through social media and the news. But I found that I was not as relaxed and stress free as I would like. So, I put my phone down and decided I would just enjoy everything going on in the yard. It is amazing all you can see when you take the time to just look around and enjoy nature.
There were birds of all sorts. Some were building nests, others searching for food, and others that just sat on the fence and sang to me. I saw a few beautiful butterflies fly by. Sadly, I feel they have become more and more rare over the years in Chicago so seeing some is very special. There were bunnies, chipmunks and squirrels eating food. There was my neighbor’s fountain cascading down the rocks and making the most soothing sound. And then there was the Japanese Lilac Tree growing in my neighbor’s yard with the most amazing scent I have ever smelled. But the most exciting thing was that I started to notice that the hummingbirds were back!
A few weeks back I had set up a hummingbird oasis as I like to call it. (For details on how to build the oasis check out: http://learninglifesfootwork.com/how-to-create-a-hummingbird-oasis/) It consists of a feeder full of food for them and a lovely hummingbird swing. I placed these near my daylilies, which I know the hummingbirds enjoy eating from as well and I added a pot of red flowers nearby because they are attracted to the color red.
Unfortunately, at first, I was not seeing any hummingbirds enjoying my oasis I worked so hard on setting up. They were flying near a big tree in the backyard and they were even eating from the daylilies but they were completely ignoring the oasis.
So, I decided to make some new food for them and slightly move the feeder and swing so the hummingbirds would be better able to access them both. And to my delight it worked! I spent the next few hours watching the hummingbirds enjoy both the feeder and the swing. It has been an absolute delight and a wonderful way to relax and decompress this weekend.
While I’m still feeling run down, I cannot tell you how much more relaxed I feel and how much joy and happiness this weekend has brought me. So, my advice to you is that it is ok to take some time to just relax and enjoy nature. It has amazing healing powers and you will be glad you did!
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