The Mid-Summer Shake-Up: Fill Your Cup
It is a beautiful day.
No seriously, it’s perfect outside.
For the first time in what seems like an eternity, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and there is very little humidity. BONUS: There’s also a breeze.
It really doesn’t get much better than this for July in Delaware.
And yet, a very small part of me is already looking forward to fall. Two days ago, I even recalled a good Christmas movie. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??
Lots of things, but I digress.
It seems that I need to be reminded several times a year to enjoy the season I’m in.
I’m willing to bet that a lot of us need the reminder, actually.
Whether you regard “season” literally or figuratively, we seem to get swept up in the stress and busyness of everyday life, and forget to enjoy what we have right here and now.
I love summer. I really do. Even though my heart belongs to October, and if you wanna read more about my feelings and fall, check out The Seasonal Shake-Up: Hocus Pocus and Hot Apple Cider. It was my first post ever and I’m not totally sure why I opened with way too many emotions for even me to handle, but whatever, nobody’s perfect, right?
Like I said, I really do love summer. I love shorts and ice cream cones and beach days. I love relaxing by the pool with a drinky drink, and having golden skin and random highlights in my hair. I love going out on the boat with my family and enjoying a crab feast with unlimited Coronas. I love grilling almost every night and being able to enjoy our screened in porch. I love all of it.
So the fact that I’m not fully enjoying all of those things right here, right now, is so annoying.
Instead, silly little me is getting carried away with the things that I feel like I have to do, and the everyday pressures we all face. Granted, I am really busy, and you probably are too. I work two jobs, have two dogs, play in two bands, write this blog, am working on some design updates, and I’m a wife, sister, daughter and friend. I’m almost always focused on everyone and everything else, and my cup is almost empty.
It is ridiculous that I spend so much time trying to cater to others before I think about filling my own cup.
Because guess what?
Worrying and stressing about making other people happy is a waste of my time.
I cannot make someone happy. The only person who’s happiness I can control is my own.
So I think I’ve decided that for the rest of the summer, I’m going to pour back into myself, and do what I can to fill my own cup.
If you went back and read The Seasonal Shake-Up, thank you. I’m about to make another Happiness List, but this one is more of a Cup-Filler List.
Sometimes I’m convinced I’m kind of an idiot, because it is not hard to make a list of things that make me happy. I know what I need, and you know what you need, so why don’t we just. heckin. do. it.
I don’t know.
But, I’m starting with a list of ten things that I know for a fact will fill my cup.
If I’m being totally honest, I feel a little guilty writing about things that fill my cup, because it’s intentionally saying I’m doing something for myself, not for others. A small part of me feels like someone might read this and think “It’s not about you, Rebekah, you’re being selfish.”
I know I am called to serve, and I have every intention of serving.
I also know that my priorities as a Christian are 1. God, 2. Elliot, 3. Everyone else.
If I have spent too much energy on everyone else (#3), how can I show up well in my relationship with God (#1), and my relationship with my husband(#2)? Instead of being “selfish”, I am simply trying to straighten out my priorities. I am a better wife when I have spent some time with God, worked out, and read a book. I am more patient and kind to others when I have been kind and patient with myself.
I’m a human. I have feelings and flaws.
It’s okay for me to fill my cup.
It’s okay for you to fill yours, too.
Here is my list. Make your own. And for the love of all that is good, do at least 5 of them.
Go to the beach. Make zero plans other than 1. Arrive at the beach. 2. Sit there til I feel like leaving. 3. Leave when I want to.
Wake up early for a sunrise on the beach. Drink my coffee while I watch the sun come up.
Actually plan a real date night and not move it when something else comes up.
Focus on one thing at a time and don’t try to do 100 things at once.
Watch the movies that make me feel something, even if I’m crying over Peeta in the Hunger Games for the hundredth time since I was 15. A part of me will always be 15, and it’s nice to be swept away in a story that I loved when I was younger.
Leave my phone and not worry about being available.
Learn how to show up for Elliot better. Not by reading stories online about how other women show up in their marriage, but by actually asking MY husband how I can show up for him.
Spend time relaxing and reading, and treating it as equally important as working on a task.
Purchase an item that I fall in love with in the store, regardless of whether I need it at all.
Clean out some items that I no longer need and give them to someone who will appreciate them.
If for whatever reason, you really needed to read this today, here are some similar posts that might help you fill your cup!
“He FILLS my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” Psalm 103:5
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Deuteronomy 6:5
“Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2