Post Time Out

Like a punished child, I went moping into Time Out a little concerned I'd be like my three year old niece and pop out, yelling that I was done.  Truth be told, I managed to stay disconnected for roughly 15 hours, of which I probably slept about 8 of them.  But by the end of the waking hours, I was actually beginning to feel a little less rattled, a little more able to focus.  Like a small child, I guess I needed time to settle down and refocus, figure out why I'd been "riled up" as I used to tell my kids.

The answer is easy in retrospect.  Like when my kids had lots of "input" (guests, sugar, playdates, travel...) they needed down time to rebalance.  My "inputs" clearly were self-imposed -- email, shopping, phone calls, follow up.  But like my niece, I came out of Time Out feeling more in control, more able to handle things with my "nice manners" on.  You know, when a three year old can walk into a room and sit quietly, looking sweet and charming every adult in the room?

Truly these days if you want to stand out from the crowd, I think we'd all be better served if we took a regular "Time Out" and made sure we entered the room with our "nice manners" on.  Who knows who we could charm?  Gotta' go take a call on the way to my next appointment (with my nice manners)!

Ciao,
Jules