What Giving Yourself Permission to Slow Down & the Zombie Apocalypse Have in Common

I have a confession to make…

i love watching zombie apocalypse shows

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been watching the first 3 seasons of ‘The Walking Dead’.  Every Monday and Tuesday, while the kids are at school and I’m on my home days.
Some of it scares the crap out of me (picture me watching it from behind my fingers) and while I’ve watched, I’ve figured out (plan a) how to zombie-proof my house and (plan b) my escape strategy from my zombie-overrun town (slightly over-active imagination – yep, I’ll admit to that!).

But each Monday and Tuesday, I sit down and I watch 2 episodes, each day.

2 days x 2 episodes @ about 40 minutes = 160 minutes

That’s 2 hours and 40 minutes over 2 days that I’m giving myself permission to slow down.

To do nothing but watch a television show that scares the crap out of me.

and I’m loving it

The rest of my week (probably a lot like yours) is busy.  Work, house, washing, groceries, kids, dog, husband, blog, continued learning, meetings, sport… do, do, do.

But while I’m watching my 4 episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’, I’m not doing any of the above.  I’ve slowed down.  I’m not doing.

And I’m not feeling guilty about it.

The not-feeling-guilty-about-it took a little while.  I would catch myself thinking about what was on the to-list for that week, but then I’d get sucked back in by a zombie about to attack one of the characters, and the to-do list would be forgotten.

There’s a couple of other ways that a zombie apocalypse is similar to slowing down (according to my over-active imagination):

1. there will be no more mobile phone reception or internet: the world has gone to shit and no-one’s going to be worried about texts or how many friends you’ve got on Facebook.  The number of friends who aren’t zombies will matter more.
2. taking it back to basics – food and shelter.  When you slow down in reality, it often just comes back to those couple of things – a comfy couch and a cup of tea.  Of course, I’m probably going to wish I was a zombie once we run out of coffee…
3. a good friend to keep you company – another one of my favourite ways to slow down is to meet up with one of my gal-pals for a coffee and a catch up.  And after the dust has settled from the apocalypse, you’ll know who your real friends are, because they’ll have your back.

don’t be afraid to give yourself permission to slow down

You don’t have to watch a television show that gives you nightmares.  Just do something that you enjoy.  That takes your mind off of your day-to-day for just a little bit.

Oh, and Jen… you’re part of plan b.

photo credit: van Van Es via photopin cc