Pushing down on me, pressing down on you.*

This is crazy, it’s the summer holidays, my kids are away to the zoo with their granny and how am I feeling?

Stressed.

I’m thinking, this is my chance to work on my novel, cut the grass (ha!), dust the entire house, wash the curtains, tidy the bedrooms, clean the grout in the bathroom and generally change the world. That’s possible in the space of four hours, isn’t it?

So far I’ve skim-cleaned the bathroom and made myself a coffee. Writing this is the third task of my day. (I’m doing it because I’m hiding from all the bigger things I’ve assigned myself today.)

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this- you’re given a gift of free time and you squander it with new to-do lists, more pressure.

When I looked at face-book earlier, I was struck by how much of it is us ticking off things we’ve pressured ourselves into doing. Some of my worst days have been covered with a smiling photograph as I hope this will redeem the stress I was feeling when it was taken.

You see, even when we don’t have an official boss bearing down on us, we’re more than able to create that pressure all by ourselves.

Why don’t we just stop for a minute and ask, is it that important? Of course, being committed and motivated are praiseworthy things, but sometimes, you just need to give yourself a break. You don’t need the ‘holidays’ for that either.

I love how that David Bowie/Queen song ends; ‘love, love, love, why can’t we give ourselves one more chance?’

That’s it- love takes the pressure off, love makes sense of the web of priorities we weave around ourselves, our time, our relationships. Love says, you’re doing great, just the way you are.

So take a deep breath, step out from the pressure you feel and get back to love. The people around you are more important than the tasks you think you need to do.

You’re more important.

Why don’t you give yourself one more chance?

* Under pressure by David Bowie and Queen