Time To Play Hooky

  I know how stressed you are. I really do.I know how completely you throw yourself into everything you do and how chaotic things can get.Let's face it, friend. You're exhausted.Putting one heavy foot in front of the other,  day after frazzled day in a frenzied, numbing march toward something you're not even sure about any more - that's you.So. There's really only one thing I can recommend.It's a little thing and, at the same time, it's a really big thing.Take a day off.Really.One day off. You don't do it enough, do you?(Do you do it ever?)Yes, what I'm talking about is playing hooky.As odd as it may seem to all of us Type-A, hard chargers, when you play hooky, you don't do any work.Don't do laundry.Don't shop for groceries.Don't drive anyone anywhere.Don't do anything that needs to be done.Instead, you take a whole day. Off.(The very idea of it feels so free and "can I really get away it it?"-ish, doesn't it?)OK, maybe it's been so long since you've played hooky that you can't remember what to do with a whole day to yourself. So let me give you some suggestions:Turn off your phone and leave your computer un-booted.Take a walk and don't pay any attention to how many steps you're getting in.Read a book cover-to-cover.Wade barefoot in a creek.Hit golf balls at the driving range - not to work on your game, but just to watch the way the balls arc through the air.Give a dog's belly a thorough rub.Take a nap.Take two naps, even.Eat a ripe peach over the sink and let the juice dribble down your chin.Call a friend you haven't talked with in a while and catch up.Meander.Loaf.Take deep breaths.And, really and truly relax.I promise you that everything on your to-do list will be there tomorrow. The world won't end if you take a day for yourself.I'll bet you, in fact, that you come back to your to-do list with a renewed sense of energy and purpose, simply because you're not so flipping exhausted.One day. Just one.Twenty-four hours for you to do... nothing.If that doesn't sound like bliss, I don't know what does.So, what do you say? How about tomorrow?