Happy doing nothing....

Currently it is 3.36pm on a Sunday afternoon and so far I have watched last night's X Factor while Mr P was still in bed (saying he is not a fan is an understatement and frankly there is enough whingeing and bitching between the judges to keep me entertained without adding in his twopenneth as well), watched the Grand Prix while squealing behind a cushion ( - so close and yet so far for Lewis) oh and put 2 loads of washing on, but generally that it is it.....and that's just how I like it frankly. Well it is Sunday after all!

Yesterday I read an article by Amy Molloy in this week's Grazia about people suffering in the "Burnout Generation" Molloy describes how she is one of a generation of mid twenties over achievers who are struggling to be able to down tools and just relax doing nothing - not something clearly I struggle with - apparently with all the stress and distractions of work/looming redundancy/debt alongside twitter, facebook, urban family demands as well as the real family it appears there is a whole generation of people so focused on building their career and packing every moment of their day full of experiences so as not to miss out on "opportunities" they are completely missing the joy of just being in the moment. It would appear that these Burnouts push themselves so hard to be the indispensable one at work, the friend that everyone turns to and as well as being the perfect son/daughter/boyfriend/wife etc that they completely miss out on all the small pleasures that life can offer up.

Now while I can relate to the manic lifestyle described by Molloy in this article as being indicative of my late twenties where working for a large retailer as a Marketing Manager I seemed to work very long hours, weekends and holidays and yet never really seemed to achieve anything. Looking back I can see now I was working not just to do the job/further my career etc but more working so hard as an escape to avoid facing the reality of being unhappy at home. And working in retail certainly offers an escape route as even the most family of events, Christmas, is the busiest time of year - gearing up for the boxing day sale...no rest for the marketing team then!

Fast forward 3 Christmases and I still work in marketing but only a 4.5 day week and instead of living to work it is working to live - and some of my happiest times are now just being able to enjoy the simplest things like sitting on Mr P's couch reading a good book (or a trashy magazine) while he zooms around playing cars on the PS3 (no I don't want to play and yes the graphics are fantastic) but the true pleasure is just being there in the moment, a snapshot of contentment and ease at just being ourselves but coexisting happily in the same space.

Admittedly the view isn't quite as awesome as the Colorado River from Plateau Point in the Grand Canyon but it is the same sense of contentment I feel looking over as he wins another race just without the exhausting walk back up the Canyon to look forward to.