It’s About Time…To THINK!

Here in the Carolinas, we’ve gotten more than enough snow the past few days (8+ inches at my house), as have many others around the nation. And for many of us, there’s still a forecast for even more in the next few days.

#Snowmageddon #SnOMG #Snowpocalypse – it means different things to different people. For families with small children, it’s a chance to build snowmen, create snow angels, make snow cream, and take photos that will be memories of a lifetime.

For small business owners (like myself), it may mean calculating the dollar value of sales lost from being closed for 3 days.  For large businesses, it may even mean worrying about meeting production needs or goals because employees couldn’t make it into work. (The BMW plant in nearby Greer, SC, gave all 7,000 of their employees the day off! Can you imagine what that means to a multi-billion dollar company?) For stores who sell sleds and ice melt, well…I think we’d all agree it’s a different story completely for them.

For people like me who live alone, a few days stuck at home SHOULD be a chance to catch up on housework, organize some closets or do laundry. But that wasn’t the case for me this week. Instead, it was a chance to go without makeup, snuggle under my electric blanket, love on my fur babies (Duke the cat & Abby the dog), and THINK. That’s right… THINK!

We all need time to do that every once in a while, but most of us never slow down from our hectic daily routine enough to just THINK. Have you taken any of this “free time” to think? To think about what’s important to you. To reflect on who you are, what you’ve accomplished, or what you still have ahead of you.  To wonder what you mean to those around you. To ponder your purpose. To reflect on goals or set new ones.

I may not have gotten much accomplished around my house these past few days (I sure hope none of you show up unexpectedly or else I’ll be frantically throwing stuff in a pile behind a closed door), but I have done a lot of thinking. I’ve looked back on what I’ve accomplished over the years, but more importantly, I’ve thought seriously about what I still have left to do. And that’s a really long list.

If you haven’t taken the time to do this lately, what are you waiting for? I encourage you to not only THINK about what’s important to you, but then commit yourself to do something about it. For each of us, it will be something different we need to do. Stop being a spectator and become a participant. Tell someone we love them. Try a new hobby. Take a vacation. Write a book. Take a class. Learn a foreign language. Clean your house (for the record, that one is on my list, just not at the TOP of the list!). Join a civic group. Donate to a charity. Look at the stars.

Be sure to comment below if you found any time in the last week to relax and THINK. Or if you have a routine that involves alone time just to THINK. Please share that so we can try your best practices. But even if you didn’t, it’s ok. I’m giving you permission to take a deep breath and THINK. But not just about the past. Let’s concentrate on the future. I’ll do it if you will.