A deep breath.  The kind that expands your chest as far as it can go.  Where your shoulders rise and fall intentionally to make room for the oxygen that is pouring in through your mouth and filling your lungs.  The kind of breath that leaves your cells tingling with the intensity of actual oxygen all the way down to your big toe.

Did you know that the average male’s lung capacity is about six liters?  That’s three large bottles of soda filling said male’s chest when he inhales.  What this says to me is that each one of us requires a lot of space within our chest just for breathing.

And that space is already there ready to use.

God created us with the physical ability to draw a very large breath when needed, right?  He expects us to need and use that space!

But, if we exercise too hard or are ill or frightened our bodies can experience a loss of breath.  An inability to breathe deeply and fully satisfy our cells with the oxygen required.  And we need to rest.  To stop.  To take a deep breath.

Our bodies require and long for that state of peace and relaxation that a deep breath brings. And so do our souls. Click To Tweet

So I am wondering…
Do you need a little space to breathe?

I know I do.  And I am working on creating just that.  Space.  Room.  Time.  Whatever you want to call it.  I really need some space to breathe in my life.

Exactly what does that look like?  How do I do that?

In this world of busyness, small businesses, side-hustles, and long-term goals, what does it look like to just stop, reflect and breathe?

For me, it looks a lot like quitting, but it isn’t.  It looks a lot like laziness, but it isn’t.  What creating space to breathe truly is:  It is a form of self-love and the process of revisiting the reason’s I started to blog in the first place.

It is reconnecting with my original thoughts and purpose in writing words and throwing them out into the blogosphere.

So I’ve taken a little time to find the space I need to breathe.  The room to expand my soul to the fullest and honor the truth that is me.

I’ve taken a little break from creating.  In the last six weeks, I haven’t written.  I haven’t drawn, painted, sewed.  I haven’t created anything.  I’ve sort of rested in that space between a short breath and a deep one.  That special space within where we can truly rest.

And at the end of the day, I made a few changes to the blog.  You might notice that I took down all of the ads and removed the affiliate links.  If you reach a post and click on an affiliate like, you will get an error message.  It’s OK.  Just hit your back button and come right back to the fun.  🙂  No big deal.

Moving forward I’m just going to write.

Because writing is art.  A release of inner thoughts and feelings flowing from one’s mind, through the heart where it picks up emotion and personality.  Continuing down and passing out through the fingers to become words, limited only by letters strung together on the page.

Often I write in my head as I lay in bed at night.  I wish there was a way for the things I write during that time to become words on a page, but in truth, the words move around in my mind forming ideas, thoughts, even sentences that may never exist anywhere but in my head.

Sometimes, if I’m lucky, the words, or a phrase, or an idea, or even a whole sentence stick with me.  They noodle around somewhere within until I can’t help but express them on the page.

Writing has become a release of sorts.  Some process things verbally, others within themselves, but I find more and more that I am processing things as I write.  One might even say that writing is becoming a way for me to take a deep breath.  To make space for that breath.

It is not a bad thing, really.  It is actually quite freeing.

Truth is, we as people need to create space to breathe within our lives.  For me, that starts by removing the pressure that blogging created in my life and returning to the roots of my writing – to share with you and encourage you.  Especially encouraging you in your faith, your family and your home.

What does creating space to breathe look like for you?  Where can you carve out, the time, the energy, the motivation?  Where can you get rid of the pressure, the worry, the frustration?

Where can you find space to breathe?