While out walking my dog in the rain on his afternoon rounds, he stopped to sniff at something, probably some less-responsible owner's dog poo. And he sniffed. And he sniffed. And he sniffed.
And after a while, I got antsy, started to pull him away to continue our walk ... but then I stopped. A sense of peace that I haven't felt in recent memory came over me -- I was in no rush. All major obligations out of the way. All project- and job-hunting phone calls and emails out of the way. No fulltime job eating away at 30% or more of my day to get in the way of simply taking my time to sniff the ... well, whatever it was.
That realization was refreshing. Maybe almost Zen. I could feel a layer of burnt-outedness peel itself away from me, a burden off my shoulders, a weight off my back. I stood up straighter at that moment.
Sniff that poo, buddy, sniff that poo. I got all the time in the world.
