Our Own Personal Sabbath: Vacation Mode

My own personal Sabbath this weekend extends from tonight into next week. It also becomes our own personal Sabbath, as my wife Kim and I are both off work for a week. So, starting tonight, we’re virtually going into hiding, with no notifications, no texts, no email, no news…

…but what we are saying yes to is life and laughter (and getting away and wine) especially in light of what happened last year this coming week. Kim “lost” both her mother and best friend all in the span of one week. It was, and is, as my wife described “the worst week of my life.”

That said, we want to celebrate both of their lives as well as stop and reflect (and being honest here, continuing to grieve) as this is the first year anniversary. To celebrate her best friend, we plan on watching a couple of Star Trek movies with the Rifftrax app, where three guys “riff” on the movies. To celebrate her mom, we plan on watching Mare of Easttown, because my late mother grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania, where the show is set. Kim’s already seen it, but I haven’t yet. To celebrate both of them, we are getting away for a few days next week for a wine trip to the Finger Lakes, which is near where we live.

We also plan on visiting my parents, who also live nearby, and probably will see my sister and her two children, who live a few miles away from my parents.

We are easing into everything by taking it slow this weekend and I plan on ending the week off with a readathon next Saturday.

This week and next Saturday, I plan on continuing to read:

Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting through The Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh, which I’m also listening to on audiobook.
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, a collection of his favorite material through the years that I’ve been making my way slowly through since the beginning of February
The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Epictetus, a new interpretation by Sharon Lebell
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

I also picked up a book especially for vacation at the recommendation of Melissa Firman: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman. Kim, likewise, selected a book especially for vacation: The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay.

On the fun side, I still have a few Elmore Leonard books I borrowed from the library that I haven’t gotten to and the next in the Serge Storms series by Tim Dorsey that I’ve been making my way slowly through over the last few years.

I’ll leave you with the latest album from Sault:

See you next weekend.

My Own Personal Sabbath #8

Almost every Sunday since mid-May 2020 with a few exceptions, I have been taking my own personal Sabbath, where I tune out of the news and social media and turn off my ringer and all notifications on my phone on Sundays or Saturday and Sunday. In the interest of full disclosure, I do use my phone to listen to music and podcasts, and check out e-books from the library. Before, during, or after my Sabbath, I share what I am reading, listening to, or watching for that day or days.

Two weeks was the week of little things, one after another, many unexpected, that led into last weekend’s sabbath. This past week, it was, without going into details and being admittedly cryptic, one big thing (don’t worry, my wife and I and our families are all okay) that led into this weekend’s Sabbath, which already is in progress.

I’m writing this Saturday morning. It’s about 10 a.m. I’m listening to the soundtrack for the movie Drive My Car by Eiko Ishibashi. My wife is also off from work this weekend and she is in the next room, journaling and listening to the music with me. Her birthday was this past week and we had a pre-birthday celebration earlier in the week. Last night, we had a post-birthday celebration with dinner and a movie, popcorn and wine. The celebration will continue throughout this weekend and the month.

Besides journaling and meditation this weekend, I also plan on continuing to read the devotional books I chose for Lent last month, and reading and listening to Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting through The Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh and narrated by Dan Woren. I only have about an hour left in the book and probably will finish it this weekend. As usual, I set up a playlist of podcasts set up that includes the 100th episode of Niall Breslin’s podcast, Where Is My Mind?:

On the fiction front, I have several books from which to choose, but I’m not sure yet what I’ll read, if anything this weekend. Among my choices are books by Elmore Leonard and Tim Dorsey.

Tonight we’ll probably watch some fun TV, with a bevvy of choices, including Tacoma FD, The Righteous Gemstones, and a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie. We’ll see what we are in the mood for tonight. Tomorrow, along with my reading, I’ll be chilling out in the 21st edition of The Chill Out Tent, which is celebrating its second birthday. I’ll leave you with a sample from a recent session:

A break from the little tedious things

This past week was the week of little things, one after another, many unexpected. Personally, I don’t like when things pile up like they did, so much so that I now have overflow into this coming week. I won’t go into the tedious details, but I will say this, and what I’m leading up to: I’m ready for this weekend’s version of My Own Personal Sabbath.

My Own Personal Sabbath #7

Almost every Sunday since mid-May 2020 with a few exceptions, I have been taking my own personal Sabbath, where I tune out of the news and social media and turn off my ringer and all notifications on my phone. Throughout the day and/or sometimes the next day, I share what I am reading, listening to, or watching during my Sabbath.

This weekend’s Sabbath begins later today, about 3 p.m after work., and will go until Monday afternoon, at about 1:30 p.m. when I return to work. This afternoon, I plan on beginning with a little journaling, and light reading, among which I have a few choices:

Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld, a collection of his favorite material through the years that I’ve been making my way slowly through since the beginning of February
Gator A-Go-Go by Tim Dorsey, part of his Serge Storms series that I’ve been making my way slowly through over the last few years
Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, because a couple of weeks ago, while shelf-reading at the library, I got an idea to read a few of Leonard’s books that were made into movies, and this was one of them.

Tomorrow morning, I plan on continuing with a little more journaling and meditation, and a little heavy reading with Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting through The Storm by Thich Nhat Hanh. Then in the early afternoon, I’ll probably continue with Seinfeld, Leonard, and/or Dorsey.

I also have a playlist of podcasts that I’ll be dipping into on both days, including a couple that I’ll listen to with my wife:

And one of the podcasts ties in with my reading, an interview with the late Thich Nhat Hanh by Krista Tippett in September 2003. Update: Saturday morning, after I drafted this Friday night, I’ve already listened to the first podcast with a reflection on March and I plan to continue to reflect and journal on last month this afternoon. I think I’m going to listening the interview with the late Mary Oliver, again with Tippett, included in the above playlist, as I take a trip to a nearby town to grab some wine that our local store doesn’t carry.

So, how was your month of March? What are you up to this weekend?

Taking a break and not feeling selfish about it

This morning, Niall Breslin on his podcast Wake Up, Wind Down talked about taking a break and not feeling selfish about it. From Ireland, he has been in the U.S. this week, in Los Angeles today, and in his case, he was feeling jetlagged still, so canceled some appointments to take care of himself, including catching up on sleep. He said he was honest with those he had appointments as to why he was cancelling, that it’s better not to “bullshit people,” as he put it.

That concept of taking a break is what I attempt to do each and every Sunday as much as possible with what I’ve been calling “My Own Personal Sabbath.” Sometimes I fail, even though it’s usually in small ways, not that I’m interrupted by anyone, but that I interrupt myself by checking an email or text, going online on the computer even though I am not using browsers on my phone. In my case, it’s more about not keeping to the boundaries that I set for myself than others not respecting those boundaries. Often I’ve assumed people care if I don’t respond right away, then after talking to them (for example, my sister), I learn they know what I am doing, that I take a mostly digital break on Sundays and they respect that. They don’t expect an immediate response.

All that said, once again this weekend I’m taking a mostly digital break, from 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon, after I’m done with work, until 1:30 p.m. on Monday morning, when I return to work. I say “mostly digital break” because I still use my phone for listening to music and podcasts like Niall’s and others’. However, I will have browsers, texts and social media (mainly Instagram, but also Google Chat) blocked from Saturday to Monday so that I can focus on my physical, mental, and spiritual health. This weekend, I have lots of choices to help towards that end, including:

continuing to take painkillers and muscle relaxants for my back (a pulled muscle a couple of weeks ago)
meditating, using podcasts from Niall and apps, such as Headspace and Shine, and journaling
listening to chill music
watching a couple of Rifftrax movies with my wife Sunday night
reading devotionals I’ve been using for Lent and a book or two yet to be determined. I’ll report back after the weekend on what I’ve read.

Do you ever take a break for yourself? How do you communicate it to others? What do you do when you’re “on a break”?