The Art of Rest

So I know you must be wondering where I've been for the past two weeks.  Wandering the globe on some fantastical tour...doing big busy important business....ignoring my beloved blog readers.  The answer somewhat sadly, is none of the above (although I would never take joy in ignoring you my faithful readers, just to set the record straight).  No, the answer I'm afraid, is much simpler.  Amongst the regular routine of life, the real reason for my absence is: sleep.

Yes, I have been sleeping me life away like a little baby.  Quite pathetic really if it weren't for the fact that my tiredness is due to my body being hard at work creating a little life.  There ya go...the big news...for those of you who didn't already know. ;)  Hopefully you will excuse me if I sometimes make no sense on here over the next 7 and a bit months...apparently it's happened a few times, so says my husband (pfft - what do men know?).  I told him that it's a normal thing as scientifically more blood flow is being directed to my placenta now rather than my brain....true story....look it up...and yes...I can hear you calling me placenta-brain Adam but I love you anyways. ;)

So anyways, I've been having this little inner struggle over this sleep dilemma of feeling like the world's laziest person but not having any power to do a thing about it.  So instead I find myself flipping like a fish out of water between pushing myself way too much or yielding totally to the power of nothingness.  However I do believe that I've had a breakthrough this week...an epiphany if you will.

On Monday night my two and a half year old daughter sprained her little ankle on our trampoline (insert whimpers of sadness here) and after getting it checked out twice (nothing wrong with a little paranoia..it can be healthy..and in fact proved to be so here as it turned out she also had some sort of throat/ear infection going on, but alas, I digress) it's been wrapped, propped, and iced for the last three days.

Observing my normally very active daughter refuse to walk for three days and be confined to a couch as the pain subsides and her ankle heals has been sad, but it has also taught me a little lesson.  Too many times we guilt ourselves into taking on too many tasks and then beat ourselves up, feeling like failures when we can't finish them all, or we finish feeling exhausted and miserable (or is that just me???)  Although it is important to set goals for ourselves, it is more important that we set realistic, attainable ones, and that we don't define ourselves by the end results of those goals.  Secondly, I've learned that sometimes our body does know a thing or two about what is best for us, whether it be more sleep, a glass of water instead of juice, or a brisk walk when we would rather plop on the couch.  It's important to listen to these cues before your brain is able to hijack your emotions and send you spinning on that not-so-merry-go-round of setting yourself up to (feel) like you've failed.

All of that being said, my goal is still to write a blog a week on here, but if I am absent for a week I trust you'll understand that I'm simply listening to my body's cues.

Until next wee... er, "time"
...Crystal