Let time be

Happy Saturday afternoon,

How are you all doing on this incredible Saturday? Staying cool? It’s an even 100 degrees here today. We’ve finally hit our hot season. Overall, it’s been a mild summer. No complaints here. I do enjoy the sunshine, and I’m excited for the cool evening breezes to come back.

This week has been a little extra hard. With the leak we’ve had and the containment up, it’s been super crazy tiring.

I’ve started a new double antibiotic that is seriously kicking my butt. John said within a short minute after taking my evening dose last night I was down for the count. Trying to navigate life, the chaos and all the medical, my body is requiring more rest then normal. Actually, my body is demanding I rest.

It’s a struggle for me to take a moment to rest, but with everything going on I am taking those moments when my body says enough is enough and I lay down, sleep or just put my feet up and read or watch a movie. The other night I worked on rearranging my loft and my body told me yesterday I needed to lay down and rest off and on. I listened.

I’m thankful for the support John gives as I navigate a new normal. He’s loving and understanding, perhaps a little more than I am of myself. I’ve always associated laying down, naps and not keeping the house just so as I was being lazy. The older I get the more I realize I can’t do it all anymore.

My doctor said to me the other day that I need to “untangle” the unhealthy mindset I was raised with. The need for perfectionism. The need to achieve more at that expense of my own happiness or health. My homework for the next two weeks is to journal and write down “my truth”. Meaning, I have to recognize the weight I’m placing on myself and give myself grace.

Mindset: I must vacuum the entire house because someone might stop over and think I’m sloppy.

Truth: It’s okay if I don’t get all the vacuuming done today even if someone stops over. They’ll understand that I haven’t been up to par. My loved ones and friends are here to see us, not the few dusty’s on my carpet or floors.

“Let yourself rest:

If you’re exhausted, rest. If you don’t feel like starting a new project, don’t. If you don’t feel the urge to make something new, just rest in the beauty of the old, the familiar, the known.

If you don’t feel like talking, stay silent.

If you’re fed up with the news, turn it off.

If you want to postpone something until tomorrow, do it.

If you want to do nothing, let yourself do nothing today.

Feel the fullness of the emptiness, the vastness of the silence, the sheer in your unproductive moments.

Time does not always need to be filled.

You are enough, simply in your being.”-Jeff Foster

It’s okay to take time for yourself. It’s not just okay, but of upmost importance.

“Self care is so important. When you take time to replenish your spirit, it allows you to server others from the overflow. You cannot serve from an empty vessel.”-Eleanor Brown.

This is so true. Serving others is such a gift, but when we continuously serve others and fail to take care of ourselves, we become so depleted. The results, we achieve very little if anything at all.

“Keep taking time for yourself until you’re you again.”-Lalah Delia.

And on that note, let time be. Enjoy the little things. Enjoy the small moments with those you love. Make time for what’s important and spend a little less time entertaining your compulsive need to do everything for everyone else while forgetting you matter too.

Now go out and enjoy a movie. Take a walk. Go for a swim. Call that long lost friend. Have a glass of wine or an ice tea out on the patio. Whatever makes you happy. Whatever refuels your soul, go and do it.

Until next time, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.