Today we are asked to talk about our favorite ways to relax.

I don’t know that I ever truly relax.

I have a lot on my mind. Sitting still is not relaxing to me.

I am writing this in advance, since it is Christmas season and ‘relaxing’ isn’t going to be done much, although I am going to have fun making fancy foods. It is a stress-reliever for me, so does that count as “relaxing”?

OK, cooking, then. I can find that relaxing. I grew up a homebody with a mother and a father who both felt food was important; if my father was a tight-wad about everything else, money was spent on food, and the holidays meant real blow-outs at our house. It does for me at my house, too. Until the last two-day stretch, it’s relaxing.

Gardening. I used to enjoy making beautiful flowers grow, making trees and bushes flourish, strategically placing rocks, etc. for beautification, was very refreshing to me. Growing and harvesting lovely vegetables was also stress-relieving to me. Alas, my body no longer cooperates.

Writing. When I have the time and the peace, I like to write. I need to write. When I don’t write, I don’t relax. Getting far from the familiar hassles of my life to telling a story where I know the ending, or creating a story where the problems do not seem insurmountable and I have control over the behavior and outcome of all of the people involved, is  stress-relieving/relaxing  for me. Not much writing is going to get done in the next few weeks, which is too bad, because I was on a bit of a roll. I’ll get there again.

Watching movies and shows. I talk over the characters and the story, whether it is with my husband, grandchildren or other family members. I gave my husband an appreciation of the abilities of the actors and directors. He gave me an appreciation of the scoring. My husband will not play games with me, except a very rare game of Scrabble. (He likes analytical games with variations and statistics. Not my cup of tea. I have no idea how he can find it relaxing, but he does.) A very good yet familiar movie can be very relaxing. It’s been a while since I indulged alone, but I have found young people around me who have not seen some great classics and I really enjoy introducing them to beloved movies. I can get one or another of the kids into games of chess or cards, but we don’t play board games anymore and I just don’t go for the online games that the grandkids love.

I’m going out on a limb and assume that every one of the Foxes and the Hound mentioned reading as a way to relax. I can’t imagine them not doing so. What can take you away from all of your daily grind better than letting an author put you into another time and place, enthralling you with other people’s stories/lives, in other times/places?
Or, indeed, to other worlds?

Well, in your own world I wish you a very Merry Christmas, or any other holiday which you may celebrate this time of the year.