I took this past weekend off, at least in terms of setting any specific goals beyond having fun.

Friday night I wiped down the whiteboard, hid my calendar (after making sure I had no commitments), and turned off the alarm clock. The dogs would wake me up early enough and I’d decide what to do from there…

It’s been something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, ever since I read Karen of Alabama Empty Nester‘s small parable in her comment on Rachelle Gardner’s Friday post.

There’s a story about an wood cutter who took an apprentice out one day. The apprentice, wanting to prove how much better he was than his mentor, chopped and chopped. Surprisingly, his mentor took breaks from time to time, sitting in the sushine. The apprentice thought for sure he would have the largest pile of wood at the end of the day. When the last piece of wood was stacked, the apprentice was amazed at how much larger the mentor’s stack was than his own.

“How did you do that? You were sitting in the sunshine while I was chopping away!”

His mentor smiled. “While I was sitting in the sunshine, I was sharpening my ax.”

So I threw my To-Do list out and went to sit in the sunshine (indoors, sadly, thanks to my allergies). I took naps, painted horses silly colors, played video games, tossed the soccer ball around for the dogs, and did whatever I felt like doing at the moment. It was wonderfully restful and very rejuvenating—something I haven’t really had in a while.

And yes, I did have chores that didn’t get done, but not as many as I had feared I’d have. Apparently I can goof-off without the world unraveling at the seams, which is news to my internal monologue (The one that tells you to go do productive things and not waste your life watching Hulu).

I think I might have to take more plan-less weekends going forward… just not too many or I’m going to give my little nagging voice a coronary. 😉