Sunday Funday

Remember how we were always taught that Sunday is a day of rest? You were supposed to rest and gather your mojo to prepare you for the rest of the week with no hard labor or rushing around. You were supposed to slow down, make time for reflection or worship and just…be. I have to confess, that concept has completely gone to the wayside for me for many years now. Sunday has become the catch all day for everything that I didn’t get to throughout the rest of the week: grocery shopping, running errands, cleaning, going through the email back log, etc. I treat it as if Sunday somehow contains more hours than the rest of the week, at least in relation to the unrealistic expectations I have of what I can accomplish. That way I am sure to be disappointed no matter what happens. I am not sure how it happened exactly. I think it crept up on me slowly through the years. There is no rest to be had on Sunday. It has just become impossible. But, is that really healthy? Don’t we all need some down time? Isn’t that an essential part of self-care, the biblical recommendations not withstanding?

In fact, down time IS an essential part of self care. We need a day to reflect, regather our thoughts, and actually rest. A day of rest is important physiologically to help your body replace the energy stores in your muscle cells so that your battery can be fully recharged for your next workout. A day of rest allows for some mechanical repair from your previous exercise. A day of rest is important psychologically because it allows us to slow our minds down from the daily, emotionally exhausting grind. When we unplug from our relentless, preplanned day to day activities, we can actually stop to enjoy our surroundings, take a momentary deep breath and do something just for ourselves for no reason and mentally prepare for the rest of the week. I am reminded of the words of Matthew Kelly, author of Resisting Happiness: “Don’t waste a single Sunday. If you don’t waste Sundays, you will be less likely to waste Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.” The bottom line is, sometimes you gotta brake now, so you don’t break later when you don’t mean to. Happy Sunday everybody!

Dr. Katz