Take a Sip Today

My husband and I have been having the same conversation for years. Literal years. More than 10 years, actually.

“We really need to exercise today.”

This is the non-negotiable. We both know we feel better when we move our bodies. We sleep better. We have more energy. We’re happier. We know this. We’ve talked about this. A lot.

We’ve even tried putting exercise on our Google work calendars. Blocking off the time. Treating it like a meeting that can’t be missed.

And yet, it gets missed.

For more than 10 years!

Something comes up. Work runs late. One of us has to be somewhere. The kids need something. Dinner needs to happen. There’s always something.

So we started talking about taking sips.

The idea was pretty simple: If you take enough sips, eventually you get full.

Maybe we don’t need to find a giant, uninterrupted hour every day to do something that makes us feel good. Maybe we just need to take a sip.

Now when we leave the house in the morning, we say to each other, “Remember to take a sip today.”

It started with exercise, but it has turned into something bigger.

This morning, my husband Taylor joined a morning group bike ride with some of his work colleagues at Midland. That was not a sip. That was a very large gulp.

Other days, it might be a trail run. Or a walk up the hill. Or sitting outside with a cup of coffee on the weekend and taking an actual sip while it’s still hot. This is one of my favorite sips. Starting the day slowly, sitting outside by myself for a few minutes before the rest of the house, and the rest of the world, gets going.

A sip doesn’t have to be exercise.

It might be calling a friend I haven’t talked to in way too long. Making time to actually connect with each other. Going outside. Reading a few pages of a book. Saying yes to something that sounds fun instead of immediately thinking about everything else that needs to get done.

It might even be hanging the sun shade we bought months ago. Or maybe today is the day I finally clear the stuff off the kitchen counter that has been sitting there for weeks.

Last October break, Taylor had his first week off from his new boarding school job. He had big plans. He was going to organize our shed and go through our worldly possessions.

We are now two weeks away from October break again, one whole year later.

Guess what is still on his agenda?

Organize the shed.

I actually find this hilarious. We can both look at something and say, “We really need to do that,” and then somehow an entire year goes by.

Because life is busy. And sometimes the things we want to do get pushed behind the things we have to do.

But I think there’s a difference between the shed and the things that fill us up.

The shed can wait.

The friend you’ve been meaning to call probably shouldn’t. The walk probably shouldn’t. The bike ride probably shouldn’t. Sitting outside with your coffee for ten quiet minutes probably shouldn’t.

We spend a lot of time filling our days. I’m not always sure we spend enough time filling ourselves.

And that’s what the sips are about.

Not adding another thing to the list. Not creating some elaborate morning routine or finding another way to feel guilty about what we aren’t doing.

Just noticing.

What do I need today?

What would make me feel a little more like myself?

Can I take ten minutes? Twenty? Can I make the call? Can I go for the walk? Can I sit outside before my coffee gets cold?

Can I take a sip?

I also think about this a lot as a parent, and now, especially, as part of SYV Family School.

We talk so much about caring for ourselves, caring for each other, being curious, being connected, getting outside, moving our bodies, and paying attention to the world around us. Those things matter for our kids, but they matter for us, too.

Maybe part of growing up is learning what fills you up.

And maybe part of being an adult is remembering to actually make time for it.

Because whether you’re eight or forty-eight, I think we all need a reminder every now and then:

Take a sip.

And then take another one tomorrow.