"There's A Time to Get Off The Road"

We first coined that phrase back in our newspaper delivery days, when days and nights were long and time for sleeping was short.

That era in our lives started in 1993 with twenty-two papers delivered in the afternoon by my oldest son on weekdays and in the mornings on weekends.

The route expanded over the next several years as two more of his siblings wanted routes, too.

But the most intense part began in 1997 when newspapers switched to an early morning delivery model. My three oldest took turns delivering newspapers with their grandparents that first year. And then the kids trained me in 1998 when I became a single parent.

I averaged five hours an evening for sleep (with cat naps in between) until the end of 2011. My second husband and I worked four jobs between us until his dementia set in. We also ran a Sunday school and a youth group, and I homeschooled.

Those years were some of the most prosperous, happy, sleep-impaired years of our lives since we were constantly moving seven days a week, three-hundred and sixty-five days a year.

And we, like other newspaper delivery drivers in the middle of the night, would, occasionally and out of real necessity in terms of safety, pull off the road during delivery time to catch a nap.

In fact, we would let each other know (we had multiple cars of the road) since we kept in touch with each other. "Call me in fifteen or twenty or thirty minutes to be sure I'm awake," we'd say to each other.

And we did.

The trick was understanding when we needed to push through, maybe grab another cup of coffee, and pass out once we returned home or when we really needed to pull over.

That phrase has now become a stock phrase in our house. Its meaning is now less about sleeping and more about self-care, about when we need to pull back from obligations for a short time and get some rest, relax, do stuff that rejuvenates us.

And it's a phrase that was tossed around Saturday night into Sunday morning when I helped a family member do a bit of discerning.

When the children were young, "playtime" came when the work was done. But in a world that stays active and alert around the clock, work is never, it seems, for any of us. The end-of-the-day whistle never really blows. 

And when that's combined with a very keen sense of obligation, of doing the best possible job and leaving no small detail undone, well, you can see where that leads.

So it's up to us to know when to hit the switch, call it a day, step back, shut off the devices, and let that email or voice mail go for another day.

Now I'm not suggesting ignoring an urgent deadline or work call in favor of internet surfing. But we don't have to delete every bit of spam and line up every pencil on our desk before we take care of ourselves, either.

We don't ignore someone's medical emergency because we're taking a bubble bath. But you don't have to answer every non-emergent call if you need that time to close your eyes and let the stress slip away.

Remember, you, too, are a commodity to your own life. And while we should "do good" to others, we must remember to "do good" to ourselves.

We love our neighbor as ourselves, not instead of ourselves.

So as you, I, anyone reading these words today, embark on a new week filled with opportunities, challenges, and (hopefully) moments of great joy and satisfaction, too, I hope you will know when to get off the road and take care of yourself.

Because when you return to the wheel, you will be alert, refreshed, and able to carry out the duties of your day much more effectively, much more happily.