Let’s Talk About Babe

You’ve done enough. It’s okay to be tired. You can take a break.

Shauna Niequist

There’s a scene in the movie Babe where the farmer says to his pig, “That’ll do, pig, That’ll do.” (I added a youtube clip of it. If you’re ready to watch a silly scene click on it.) What’s great is that Babe can talk to the other farm animals and completes his goals with less effort. Not only is it less effort, he’s more polite and allowing the animals to choose for themselves rather than forcing them around.

Today flew by me without any moments for me to stop and think. This scene in Babe reminds me that it’s important to allow moments of appreciation be part of my day. No matter how much effort it feels like I’m putting into my daily goals, I want to take time to appreciate the things I complete throughout the day.

How about you? Do you take time to appreciate the completed tasks big and small? Do you allow yourself to have done enough? To take a break?

The Flu, Tea, and Bliss

A cup of tea is a cup of peace.

Soshitsu Sen XV

The first thing I did once I was home sick from work on Friday, was make myself a cup of tea. I combined that with my favorite YouTube channel and my favorite blanket and I was zonked for a good 24 hours. Laid out with the weirdest dreams, mixed with randomly waking up to my husband and daughters cheerful voices. What I learned from this whole being sick thing is that I love the sound of my family just being themselves. They brighten my day especially when they are enjoying each other’s presence. I’m kinda surprised by this because you’d think someone home sick would be irritated by any noise that disturbed their rest. I loved it. I woke up to Sala excited and inviting me to play with a fairy toy she hadn’t played with yet. I woke up to Nova and Simon having a healthy disagreement mixed with laughter. It truly is a rich life to have a healthy home filled with love and laughter even under stress. I’d choose a healthy home first anyday. ANYDAY. We all work hard on it and the joy that fills our home is the fruit of our labor. Things aren’t always perfect around here but there’s bubbles of time that feel like the closest thing to heaven.

Oh and sidenote: I’m feeling much better this evening.

WordPress Prompt

What cities do you want to visit?

The first place I want to visit outside of US is Venice. The second place is not a city but I really want to go there, is The Kentucky Derby. I’m not sure where my dream to visit Venice came from but my dream to visit the Kentucky Derby came from My Fair Lady. There’s a scene where Audrey Hepburn is wearing this beautiful outfit at the horse races.

How about you, what cities do you want to visit?

How I Rethink My Sick Days

Home sick today. Tea, soup, and naps on deck. I’m in my new flannel under my coveted weighted blanket and feeling loved by my husbands chicken soup. I used to get super discouraged whenever I got sick. These days, I like to think of my sick days as upgrades. I’m not sure which part of the internet I read it first but now it’s stuck. So today, I’m home upgrading to Human 37.5. This whole idea reminds me of an alien invasion movie where the aliens couldn’t thrive here because they’d never upgraded their systems to avoid the viruses we have here on earth. Fiction makes myths work. lol And this whole idea makes me smile. It’s kinda silly but it works for me. I’m gunna be over embracing my entire self, weird nerdy parts and all. Please excuse me while I reboot to get the latest antibodies.

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Without anxiety and illness I should have been like a ship without a rudder.

Edvard Munch

Overloaded Critic?

Tonight I’m drinking tea and reading my novel out loud to myself. I like it when I can just focus on reading and let the critical part of my mind have a break because it can get overloaded. That’s when it begins to feel like nothing in my book is right. Sometimes it even gets wild and tries to make me feel like I can’t do anything right, which is very untrue.

Attentive?

At this point in the cycle, I’m focused on how attentive I am to my needs. It is hard for me. I’ve been working on this for a long time. I often neglect my own needs in order appease those around me. Honestly, most times I don’t even realize I’m neglecting myself. I am still learning what I need when I need it, and at what point to prioritize those needs over other things going on around me.

I think what will help me learn to manage my own needs would be to check in on myself throughout the day using a journaling app or paper journal. Once I can easily recognize my needs, then then I can do it less. Being attentive to myself will become more intuitive. Well that’s the goal at least.

Boy, while I write this, I can’t help but think that it really does take a long time to master this human thing. It’s work that requires daily intentions. Makes me truly understand how important it is to be kind to everyone. If just being a good well balanced human requires this much homework, imagine how hard it is was when you add academic or career homework onto to the pile.

So what do you struggle with when it comes to being attentive? Are you more attentive to yourself or are you more attentive to others?

Pre and Post Work Routine

Today I learned that when I step into my daily routine, that I need to respect that space. Routine helps me transition from one activity to another. It helps me know what’s coming. It helps me prepare for the next day. And it helps me feel like I care and respect the work that I do before and after the routine. Does routine add value to your work?

Daily routines add value to our everyday lives in many ways. I do feel that routine adds value to our work. When we act intentionally to prepare and conclude our work session, that is working. Discipline and routine is what leads to mastery. Not talent, not perfection, not candy and coffee. Take all those things away but maintain your discipline, and you’re on you’re headed in the right direction. I heard on a business discussion it’s not the best baker or the most popular one. It’s the baker that withstands time. Sustainable practices like daily routine and discipline are two key strategies to avoiding burnout.

Now that I’ve accepted the value of my prework and post work routines, I’ll have a better idea of how to respect them.

Do you have a pre and/or post work routine? What is it? How long have you been doing it that way?

Artist Dates Still Going!

I challenged myself a few weeks ago to have artist dates once a week until the new year! Today’s artist date was a stay at home date. I took my time matching socks and folding warm laundry while listening to a The Bible Project talk about apocalyptic writing in the bible. ( Here’s the link if you’d also like to watch it.) Some of you may be thinking, well cleaning doesn’t count as a date. On the contrary, this girl (me) loves her some freshly washed and dried, still warm laundry. (But not when I’m on crunch time.) Ready for more boring description of my amazing day, I wandered around, laid in bed, and made some left over chicken n veggies. Being home and not having to lug all my stuff around to have a moment alone, is amazing!! Thanks husband for taking the kids!!

So two dates left for the year. I got this.