At the end of our 31 Days of Rest & Risk series, we had a giveaway ~ $100 to REST or RISK. My friend, Ellen won! & she’s here today to share how she chose to spend the $100.
Her experience of REST & RISK ::
When I won $100 from Caroline and Greg to pursue rest or risk, I was ecstatic, shocked, overjoyed and happy. When the money showed up in my mailbox?
I got scared.
What in the world would I do with this money?
I entertained putting it toward a conference or some other thing that was on my really want to do list.
But then I looked at my husband with his schedule ramping up and our life about to get a bit hectic and I decided to do something restful. We arranged for our children to spend the night with my parents on a Friday night and we used the money to set up a small staycation right here in our town.
I decided to try not to use any real, honest to goodness MONEY money except for what I’d won here. So we booked a room in a pretty little part of downtown and grabbed a gift card from the baseball team my husband helped coach in the fall.
It was very simple. I worried that it wouldn’t be enough, that we should have arranged to go on some elaborate trip. In the end, that was the risk. Could we believe that simple and small was enough and do it anyway?
We did. We stopped by the library and I was able to check out books by myself. Amen. We ordered an appetizer. An appetizer! We ate fancy steak and fish. We lingered a bit and took the long way back to the hotel. We were quiet together. I flipped through magazines and cookbooks and my husband switching between college football, Sports Center and Guy Fieri cooking shows (Side note: why is every show on Food Network a Guy Fieri show? He’s nice and all but….). We slept in. Peered out the windows. Took our time.
It was simple but it was good. There weren’t any life changing, a ha! moments. Sometimes I struggle with saddling my world with that expectation. This little restful move? Mostly, I think it set the tone for how we would manage our lives during a very busy season. We stepped away. We were quiet. We rested. And I find myself managing my own expectations better, able to say no more easily.
Better for risking to rest.
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Thank you so much Ellen!
Ellen is a dear friend that everyone wants to have as their next door neighbor. Her stunningly beautiful words & photographs are sweetly & creatively filled with grace & conviction. Be sure to subscribe to her blog, Sweetwater, for continued inspiration.
Mandie says
I do want Ellen to be my neighbor- you’re so right. 😉
I love what she did- created a little pause in the day-to-day.
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