Sometimes You Just Need a Break

Have you ever had that feeling that you just need a break??  Not a retreat. Not even a whole day. But just a break from reality and anyone or anything that needs your attention??  Please don’t tell me I’m the only one!

We actually just got back from a vacation so I’m not even overly stressed but every once in a while my brain needs a total shut down.  A reset of sorts to just not think about work or to-dos or literally anything productive at all.  

My brain doesn’t think about “nothing” very often.  It’s like its incapable of not thinking and most often it’s thinking about 132 things at once….I mean, I’m a woman.  This is how we work, right??

This past Saturday (after spending 10 hours on my computer on Friday catching up from not working during vacation) I looked at Ira and said: “My brain is tired and I just need to do something that is nothing.”!  Hahah! I always love the look on his face when I say things like this! Guys are wired so differently!

I needed to do something that would make my brain do nothing.  So I sat and thought for a few minutes….what is that “thing” for me that makes me shut down?  I don’t really have hobbies, I hate watching TV during the day, it was pouring rain so I couldn’t do yard work….so I decided to paint!  

What’s funny is you’re probably thinking, “oh that’s fun!  Brandee likes to do paintings….I never knew that.” But what I mean is paint my house!  

I love to paint bedrooms, bathrooms, and really anywhere in my house.  I grew up with a father who owned a commercial painting company and while I didn’t paint with him very often, I did help paint many of the rooms in our home!  I just love it! You can completely go into a zone of doing the same movement over and over and over which requires very little brain energy but you still accomplish so much by the end!  

So I jumped up, ran over to the Sherwin Williams store down the street, bought 3 paint samples, tested all 3, chose one, went back to Sherwin Williams to get the paint and then got to work!  

It took me most of the rest of the day but I binged an entire season of The Great Food Race with Tyler Florence on Food Network!  Did you know that your Alexa Show can play Hulu and Netflix if you just say “Alexa, play ___ on Hulu”??? What?? Alexa is going to run my whole life by the end of this year!

Anyway, all that to say….it felt so good to take a brain break!  When I was painting I didn’t have to think. I didn’t have to calculate.  I didn’t have to think about what may come next. I just kept painting until it was done.  Mindless yet feeling SO accomplished for what I had done!  

So what’s your “thing”??  What is it that you do when you want/need a brain break?  Is it reading? Is it gardening? Is it painting?? Let me know!  I only have so many rooms that I can paint in my house so I may need a few new ideas!!