Last night, I unrolled my yoga mat in the hot room. For an hour, I breathed, stretched and strengthened. Sweat poured out of my body and, for the most part, I didn’t think about anything else.

After going to yoga several times a week over the winter, I have slipped of late. I only went twice in May and didn’t go at all in June. That needs to change.

In the past week, I’ve been on my bike three different times for about an hour each time. Like when I’m on my yoga mat, an hour on my bike does wonders to clear my head. Again, this is something I need more of.

While coincidental to what’s been going on in my life, there was this wonderful piece recently in the New York Times. Called simply, “The ‘Busy’ Trap,” it has been all over social media of late (I would bet $5 that at least one of your Facebook friends linked to it).

One paragraph I liked: “It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.”

Essentially the piece talks about finding the elusive balance between work and life. While I’m not sure how realistic it is — we all can’t be authors — there is some nice perspective in it. And it arrived at a perfect time for me.

When I leave the office today, I will begin five days away from the office, five days at home. I have very little planned. It is going to be awesome. I have some tee times and a couple of tasks on my to-do list, but that’s about it. I have four library books on my iPad that I’d like to read. I’m a month behind in reading Sports Illustrated and want to catch up. I want to visit the Fulton tap room for the first time and eat pizza at Black Sheep afterward. I might see a movie. I don’t want to wear a watch. Let me rephrase that, I’m not going to wear a watch.

This isn’t going to be a vacation that’s go-go-go every day. I’m not going to log hundreds of miles behind the wheel of my car. Nope, I’m going to get off of the treadmill for a few days, play a little golf, have few expectations and breathe.

When I return to real life (and the office) next week, I need to remember to not be so busy. Not be so scheduled. I need to get on my mat and get on my bike. I need to breathe and I need to sweat. I need to read and I need to chill. (I also need to blog more, but that’s another story for another day).

Because sometimes you get the most out of doing nothing.