I can’t imagine ever working during the two weeks of Christmas school break ever again. And, to be honest, I don’t feel remotely ready to go back to dusty office carpets and mandatory small talk in three days. I love this pause for many reasons.

Not rushing my children in the morning and giving them freedom to decide their daily activities. Not caring if we do nothing, if the day is not productive or “successful.” I have discovered, to my astonishment, that one can only “waste” time if one approaches it from an extractive perspective. The concept of waste can only exist in opposition to the concept of value. One cannot waste time by breathing, thinking, daydreaming or playing. It is called existence.

Not caring how I look. I have had body image issues for as long as I remember myself. I have a clear memory of my mother’s friend giving me my first diet and exercise plan at the age of seven, but I suspect that people had told me that my body was “wrong” even before that age. Because of the way I’d been taught to hate my body, dressing and styling myself to the point where I remotely like the way I look takes a great amount of energy.

Not caring what people think of me, not caring IF people think of me (most of them don’t and it’s alright). Freeing myself from virtue signaling and the urge to prove that I am right, and getting rid of most social media apps. It’s an uphill battle.

Not spending my daylight hours in front of my computer screen.