Caring Bridge - February 2020
Caring Bridge Journal Entry by Michael — February 13, 2020
Since December when all of this shot out of a canon we have lived on a 24-48 hour calendar: "what's going on tomorrow?" "what do we need at the store?" "is this script called in?" "Wait they want to reschedule this appointment but it conflicts with this one ...." and so on and so on.
Hence, when we have a couple of weeks where everything is just peaceful, it has been a welcome break. I could finally rest and not feel like I'm being yanked around everywhere. It has also allowed Darby to catch her breath some as we know breaks like this can be/will be rare ... and it's better to take advantage of it.
What have we been doing? Mostly sleeping to be honest. By not having enough spoons or energy, I'm heeding the advice of those that have been on this trail who have offered the simple advice: "rest." ...and rest I have. There have been a couple of days this week where I just wanted to rest in bed. Nothing was wrong. I could've gotten up and made it to the living room to watching movies or be on the PS4. But I just wanted to rest - read in bed. Maybe watch Netflix until I fall asleep.
It is then that it struck me that in my 50-something years of padding the Earth, I can't think back to a time when I spent one day in bed - much less TWO in the same week! It further reminded me that no matter how much we work, how many hours we put in, no matter how many projects we try to get done ... we need more than self-care. I'm calling it "self-repair" because staying in bed the entire time really slows your world down. You are limited (semi-limited if you bring your phone and are still working - which is cheating and doesn't count towards self-repair) to what you do. Clear your thoughts, daydream, just take note of all the good things happening around you and KNOW that you are doing the very thing your body NEEDS. Repair, rest, relax, chill - whatever word you select ... it matters a great deal to one's mental health and feels really good.
So - on that note - I'm going to take a quick scan of emails and I'm going back to bed because my body is calling for it 😊
