It rained all virtually all day in Munich. It was a steady, stubborn rain too. It was light enough to make you think it wouldn’t be persistent, but consistent enough to make my shoes soggy (PS. I have learned I need new shoes).
That being said, on a chilly, rainy day, I still saw some lovely things. But after the cool air and my wet feet, I decided to take a nap. And it was a long nap.
At first, I felt a strange sense of guilt, as if I had not done enough with my day. But then I remembered, I had seen two Cathedrals, a castle — at a distance, but I saw it — and enjoyed a plate of delicious German food ordered auf Deutsch.
Sometimes, we need to move with the rhythm of the day. And it turns out my body needed that nap too.
And don’t we want more of this? Opportunities to move with the current of the day, rather than against it? So often, we do move against it. We hunker down. We push through. We ignore important interruptions. We neglect our body’s cues. Simply put, we don’t rest.
I don’t think we need to chuck all our rhythms and responsibilities, but maybe we need more flexibility within those. What if we gave ourselves a few more permissions to do that? Like, really?
Turns out, after that nap, the sun did come out in the evening, and I had renewed energy. I walked around some more and had some ice cream. So good. I stopped by a Munich fountain and remembered that the last time I was at a Munich fountain was 20 years ago. I bet 20-years-ago-me might not need a long nap (though she’s allowed too) but this-me is fine taking it.
Smuggling Grace 