Impress Yourself: Permission to Rest
I want to talk to those of you who have been hustling, grinding, and trying to get everything now but need permission to rest, to lean into who you are and make your path clear, to create a life you love without feeling like that means everyone else has to love it too. This is for you. It’s long but it needs to be said and you need to hear it.
Impress yourself, ladies! It’s time to do what will make you proud when you fall asleep at night instead of creating an Instagram-friendly, perfectly filtered life that looks beautiful to others but unfulfilling to you other than how it feels when others are impressed.
Yesterday, I took time to sit and listen to “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaughey. I sat and purposed to enjoy every moment of it, take some notes of my favorite “bumper stickers”, and really listen to what he was sharing about life, love, family, and faith. That impressed me since I usually listen while scrapbooking, cleaning, or moving in some way. But yesterday, I allowed myself to just sit and listen. And I loved it!
Impress yourself.
•What books have you wanted to read? Read them!
•What skill have you wanted to improve? Take time to do so!
•What part of your yard would you like to spend more time in? Go enjoy it!
•What series have you wanted to binge? Today’s a great day for doing that!
•What chores have you wanted to finish that don’t feel “big enough” to focus on? Focus on them today. (Can we talk about how great it really feels to get all those unmatched socks matched and clear out the sheets/comforter closet?!)
•What sermon have you wanted to take time to sit and truly unpack? Listen to it today. Take all the time you need.
Whatever it is you consider rest and whatever you’ve wanted to do but have pushed aside because it hasn’t felt like it will get you close to your goals. You may surprised by how it will help.
I’ve heard that people regret what they didn’t do when it comes time to take their last breath. This includes rest, time with family, time for themselves. So take time to do what will impress YOU!
Here’s your permission.
Until next time,
~Shell
Shell Vera 
Thanks for your post encouraging us to LIVE life on our terms. I’m currently reading a book about Abundance Now (by Lisa Nicols) about determining for ourselves what abundance looks like to us personally. From my reading and the advice in your post I am even more inspired to be authentic in and take time to enjoy what I do, think and say.
Bless you Shell Vera and belated wishes for a safe and satisfying year in 2021.
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I will check that book out, Carol. I’ve been doing a lot of reflection lately on what a good life really looks like to me. Looking into that boundary between stopping short (thinking of King Johoash and the arrows in 1 Kings… where he is told to strike the ground and does so only three times) and being content with enough. I have a big personality and I dream really big. Sometimes that means I’m not satisfied with good because I’m aiming for great. I get the A but realize I missed A plus. That kind of thinking makes it that I stop myself from doing things at times because I can’t do them at the level and depth I want to. But sometimes God would get the glory just from my showing up, not from me planning the party. I believe as I walk through this year, that’s going to be my challenge: consistency and progress versus overindulgence and perfection. Getting it gone well versus bedazzling it.
Thanks for always being such an encouragement!
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