National Relaxation Day

Did you know that every day is a holiday or a celebration of some kind? Sometimes a day even has more than one! Well, today is National Relaxation Day. This has got to be one of the best of these obscure, unknown holidays, except perhaps for International Chocolate Day, also known as World Chocolate Day, which is on July 7 and marks the date 466 years ago (as of 2016) that chocolate was introduced to Europe.

By the way, there are a lot of chocolate celebration days including National Chocolate Covered Nuts Day on February 5, National Chocolate Mousse Day on April 3, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day on August 4, and many, many more. But I digress. Can you tell I'm a chocolate lover? Guess what I'll be eating while I'm relaxing today.

But back to my original subject. It's a bit ironic that this year National Relaxation Day falls on a Monday. I think when most people think of Mondays, relaxation is probably the last thing they think of. Monday is the start of a new work week or the beginning of another week of school - certainly not a day for relaxing.

But somewhere today in your busy schedule perhaps you can find a few spare moments to enjoy this holiday and relax. Maybe between getting off work and starting dinner? Maybe after dropping the kids off at soccer practice? Maybe after you've turned off the TV or shut down the computer before going to bed? I encourage you to find some little space in time to take a few minutes, pull out your favorite fountain pen and some nice paper, relax and write. Don't know what to write? Maybe it's time to start that bullet journal you always wanted to try? Or pull out that beautiful journal you bought three months ago and give it a go? Or when was the last time you wrote a poem? Have you ever even written a poem? Go ahead, give it a whirl.

I store my pens in a couple of pen rollups I sewed this year (one for filled pens and the other for empties). Just the simple act of unfurling my rollup and looking at my colorful selection of fountain pens puts a smile on my face. And a few beautiful blank books never hurt either. Perhaps you could light a couple of candles or play your favorite tunes on your iPod while you write. Anything to help get you out of the stress of your day.

It sounds a bit crazy but sometimes we have to force ourselves to find time to relax. To 'stop and smell the roses' if you will. And if you don't have any real roses around, maybe a bottle of De Atramentis rose scented Red Roses ink will do the trick.