I love to sit on the front porch with 3 or 4 of my favorite girlfriends. Usually on Fridays we meet early and have snacks (snacks are a necessity!). Rain, snow or sun, the porch is the place to be. We laugh away the stresses of the week and before long I’m completely unwound and ready to enjoy the weekend!

Well, that picture certainly inspires a good idea…but, I like to relax by lunching with girlfriends, scrapbooking, or reading a great book. Sometimes I can relax with the family but it seems there is always something to be done at home that prevents getting into full relaxation mode!

I am the first to admit I don’t do Relax well. It’s not that I don’t totally believe in the importance of taking time to relax – especially for women -but I just struggle with learning how to relax. I am a goer, a doer and it’s hard for me to shut that down.

One of the times I do truly feel relaxed is when I get a massage but I have struggled with making the time and feeling like I shouldn’t be spending the money somewhere else – usually on one of my kids.

To help overcome this problem though I recently purchased a membership at a local massage center. So now each month, the cost of a massage is automatically deducted from my checking account.

I guess you could call this pre-paid relaxation and since I hate to waste money I go in and get that massage!

Another way I like to relax is a couple of times a year I escape for the weekend with a group of my favorite girlfriends – the Beach Babes. I don’t have to take care of anyone but myself! We have lots of good talks and lots of good food.

I think girlfriends and food are going to be a common theme here!

Can’t wait to hear from more of you.

Well, like Leigh Anne, I don’t “relax” well either. And lately, the stress factor has been off the charts. (Actually that has been the case for the past three years.) I’m a firm believer that all of the circumstances of life are great teachers of indispensable lessons. I’ve learned to watch for little things a LOT lately. There are opportunities to relax in just being thankful and ruminating through a good thought process about some small thing you’re genuinely thankful for. Watching children is always a guarantee that there will be something that you’re taking for granted or have missed that they are busy “studying”, all without a care in the world. I have learned that just a good dose of honest-to-goodness laughter can be the ticket. Today, Sherra called me ( which is always funny in and of itself) but then we got the wild notion to three way in someone that I haven’t talked to personally in years. While this friend and I talked I could hear Sherra HOWLING at times in the background which, of course, started a chain reaction. Time slowed down..I began to breathe more deeply, the pressing issues suddenly weren’t as relevent…ah,friends. There’s nothing quite like laughter and human connection. And they cost nothing.;0)

When I want to relax, I strap on my walking shoes. There is a huge nature preseve that backs up to our property so I hike the trails and enjoy nature all year round – even those cold Michigan winters! Being out in the woods is so peaceful – it is my time to think, relax, enjoy.

Oh boy, relaxing. How does that happen? I find that I can relax ‘best’ if it is not happening consciously. So if I am scrapbooking or making a card (without a ‘deadline’, even if it’s self imposed) or gardening, I find myself relaxing. There has been a lot of stress in my life over the past year and a half, so I need some good relaxation!!

Relaxing happens to me often now and in some of the strangest ways. During my bike ride each morning (see the morning glory’s?), while I scrapbook (by myself or with friends), on a walk with my 2 dachschunds, in the middle of a crowded place (store, park), during church, the first few moments of the day before I get out of bed, the last few moments before I go to sleep, while I read, during house cleaning, etc. Ok, I’ve entered a relaxing phase of my life – don’t be envious – it’s been a long haul of stress and anxiousness. Ok, read “The Shack” (by William Young) for a relaxing moment!

Relax – hmmmmmm!! I don’t think I do relax, or maybe I’m always relaxed.

1. I watch tv. Don’t worry, I don’t waste my time with frivolous tv, just important stuff that I have recorded from BYU TV. Why is it that women will never admit to watching tv? They will say, “I heard this on Oprah, oh I don’t watch Oprah, and I probably heard this a long time ago, years actually because I haven’t watched tv for years actually, actually I don’t watch tv at all, actually it just happened to be on when I was walking by because my daughter was watching it…….”

2. Sometimes I lay in bed and listen to the radio. It’s very relaxing to pretend you have nothing important to do.

3. I eat. Not health food but really delicious, highly caloric food. Nothing like chocolate and sugar to calm me down!

4. I like to wander aimlessly around the mall. Cheap thrills, okay not really cheap but thrilling!

5. I call Kaye and we chat on and on and on, sometimes for so long that I have to rush like mad to get enough done that no one will know that I have frittered away several hours just talking on the phone. And then the whole relaxing thing just went out the window!

This is an interesting question. Perhaps we’re all so busy and stressed that we’ve lost the fine art of relaxation. My dad used to sit outside in his special chair and meditate/nap. I do love to stop everything when there is a storm and sit outside and just watch it take place! Of course in the winter it makes more sense to sit inside and watch. But if I really need a break I watch tv, lay in bed, eat, wander around the mall (Target is a great option too), or call Kaye. (She now lives in Utah and I’m in Arkansas so it’s great, I can give the excuse that we just needed to catch up!)