#WordyandWheelyWednesdays: On Taking a Moment

Hello my lovely readers!

Welcome to this week's #WordyandWheelyWednesdays entry, actually written on Monday, to make use of the first truly 'free' day I've had in a rather long while - which gave me the idea for this post. 

I'm not very good at taking time off. I've got an awful lot better at it since my undergrad days, but I'm still not quite at the point where it feels okay not to work at all for a whole day, and have spent much of today fending off guilt.

However, this post isn't about that - it's about how I've used today as an experiment, to push myself to practise some much-needed self-care, and how that has reminded me of the importance of (literally) taking a moment.

Little pauses (the value of which I've only been reminded of by taking a longer pause today) offer me the chance to reflect properly and helpfully on the work that I do - both academically and physically. They allow me to appreciate the fact that I'm even doing this work in the first place, and to be grateful for where I am. They also (sometimes unexpectedly) provide me with inspiration for further projects - one of which has involved me having the La La Land soundtrack on repeat in the background today (but which probably won't be featured on this blog to protect me from potential self-plagiarism).

So, with those three aspects in mind, I shall try and remember to take pauses when I need to, and to feel justified in taking the day off today because I could.

Self-care is the most important thing in this life.

On that note, current Monday-me is going to sign off and read a fiction book that isn't on a device, as well as cuddle my dogs. Hopefully future Wednesday-me will be proud and think it was a good idea when she posts this!

Current Wednesday-me's verdict: It was a great idea. I finished the whole book (Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler's adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew for the Hogarth Shakespeare series) in three hours. Also, as much as I love critical theory, it was a joy to read something else.

Copyright Jessi Parrott January 2017