Dishes + Gratitude
We got home from four days at the lake today.
When we leave the lake, I usually feel sad. When we pull into our back lane, I usually feel excited. When we walk in the back door, I usually feel overwhelmed. Real life just hits you SO FAST. There was dinner to scavenge for, laundry to sort, a dishwasher to unload (and before long, to reload), messages to listen to, bills to open and pay... And I know that I'll be hit with a tsunami of work and school stuff first thing tomorrow.
An hour or so later, I found myself in the kitchen - emptying and reloading the dishwasher, washing Briony's sippy cups, starting a grocery list for tomorrow... And I took a second to just let it all sink in. These were all the things I wanted SO DESPERATELY to be able to do last week while I was deep in the valley of a flare, too sick to take care of myself nevermind my family. And today, I was doing them. I found my eyes filling up with happy tears, so full of gratitude that it was just literally spilling out of me. Over DISHES.
I don't expect this feeling to last forever (or even until the end of this week), but I hope that I'll remember when it counts.
Labels: Arthritis/Fibromyalgia, Be Here Now, Married Stuff, Mommy Stuff, Stuff I'm Thinking About
Thriving
My friend Trish shared this quote on Facebook today. I'm not sure of the source, but I'm very sure of its positive impact on me today.
"It is not your role to make others happy; it is your role to keep yourself in balance. When you pay attention to how you feel and practice self-empowering thoughts that align with who you really are, you will offer an example of thriving that will be of tremendous value to those who have the benefit of observing you."
Labels: Be Here Now, Stuff I'm Thinking About
Workaholics Anonymous
I was inspired by
this article today.
I've been working a lot lately on spending my time consciously - on working more efficiently so that I have more time and energy left for MY LIFE. It's so freeing to start to ask questions like 'how does this fit with my goal of having a balanced life?' and 'will this make my family happier?' and 'why am I doing this in the first place?'
It's kind of amazing, actually. Yes, I'm saying NO a little more often. But by saying NO to the things that don't have a place in the life I want to live, I'm able to say YES to some other things - things that make me happy. Of course, BALANCE isn't a destination - it's a journey. But every decision I make to live my life more consciously keeps me on that path.
I think we can all do a better job of pursuing balance. This week, I'm making a promise to myself to keep my work inside boxes of dedicated Work Time - and to walk away from my laptop and live my life in between.
What will you promise to yourself this week?
Labels: Be Here Now, Being Healthy, Going Rogue, Stuff I Found Online, Stuff I'm Thinking About
Gentle
I need to learn to be more gentle with myself.
Do you remember Junior High? Do you remember what it felt like when those girls totally bullied you and made you feel worthless because of something you wore, someone you ate lunch with, or just not going along with the crowd? It didn't happen to me often, but it did happen... And when I think about it, my stomach still ties up into the same awful knots it did way back then when the wounds were fresh.
I can make myself feel like that. Just for having a day that is less productive than I feel it should have been. The key words in that sentence would be I FEEL and SHOULD.
Today, I am choosing to treat myself with the same grace I would offer to my friends without a second thought. Starting with not working (or stressing about work) until Briony's naptime today, and instead taking her for a walk this morning.
Labels: Be Here Now, Briony, Stuff I'm Thinking About
Clearing Out The Clutter
Last month - a few weeks before we left on our trip - I joined an online friend in a project she started called
Be Here Now. The idea was incredibly simple - to live more mindfully and make an effort to be present in every moment. Over the past month or so, I've been making an effort to do exactly that. It has NOT been easy, but the effort has been so worth it.
I've noticed myself being a little less frustrated in situations that would ordinarily have pushed me right over the edge. And I've noticed that each day holds just a little bit more joy - living in the moment forgives a dirty house in favour of some giggle time with a baby, it realizes that a phone call with a friend should be spent sitting with a cup of tea and not folding laundry, and it gives permission to just STOP every once in a while. The funny thing is that I expected my house to become a disaster zone while I 'lived in the moment' and gave up my multitasking way of life. It actually isn't *too* bad. Turns out that focusing on one task at a time is actually quite efficient - who knew.
All this focus on living more mindfully has made me incredibly sick of the clutter in my house and the baggage it represents. And so I'm getting rid of it. The events of this past year - specifically, becoming a first-time mom and helping to support my mom through a fight against breast cancer - have really impacted me. There's nothing like new life and a life-and-death battle to really set you straight and help you figure out your priorities. I realize more than ever that it's people (and not STUFF) that makes my life so valuable. Don't get me wrong... I like stuff. Particularly stuff in the form of books and clothes and shoes. But I'm finding that I really crave a home full of a little less stuff.
And so, I am embarking on a mission to get rid of all the stuff that I haven't touched in a few months. Seriously. I'll never miss it once it's gone. And the best part is that it's going to go to a great cause: the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. We're registered to do Run for the Cure again this year, in honour of my mom. And I'm planning a yard sale for sometime in June to kickstart our fundraising efforts. Anything that doesn't sell is getting packed up at the end of the day and taken straight to MCC.
For me, this clean-up of my house is also a clean-up of my heart. I want to be surrounded by people I love, not just stuff that I love. I'm really excited :)
Want to join me?
**UPDATE: We have tentatively selected Saturday, June 6 as our 'Yard Sale for the Cure' date.
Labels: Be Here Now, Chronic Babe, Run for the Cure, Yard Sale
