If you’ve ever taken a yoga class, you’re probably familiar with savasana. That’s the five or ten minutes at the end of a class where you just…lie there. Flat on your back. Arms extended, legs splayed, breath doing, you know, whatever. No effort, no focus, no nothing.
You literally just…exist.
An instructor of mine likes to say “there’s nothing left for you to do here” just before officially cueing us into savasana. At first, that bugged me. What do you MEAN, nothing left to do? There’s always something to do. Right?
But maybe not. At least, not right now.
My yoga instructor’s point is: the practice you just went through is done. Whatever effort you put in is in the past. Whatever effort you could have put in is also in the past.
There’s nothing more to do now. Just absorb what is.
I just got done filling stockings. They’re currently slumped against my bedroom wall, as full as they’re going to get. Likewise, the stack of gifts below the tree downstairs isn’t getting any bigger. The breakfast menu I’ve planned isn’t getting any more ambitious, either. The stores are closed, the night is over, my work here is done.
I didn’t hit all the marks, but that’s what next year, or the year after, or…never is for.
For now, all I can do is give myself thanks and gratitude for the effort I put in.
And take a big breath. Because no matter what I think I might have done, what I DID do is enough.
So is whatever you did…or didn’t do. There will be time later to make adjustments, to add on, to make it better. For now, just let it be what it is…and if you can, go to bed.
Your work – for right now, for tonight – is done, mama.
Photo by Tom Rickhuss on Unsplash