An empty cup....some mental health self care....and paid time off. Oh yeah.
I am on vacation this week.....well, sort of. I took a week of paid vacation from my job as a nurse to mostly do my work as a mom and homemaker......and I have to tell you that after 2 days of doing what most at-home moms probably do......I LOVE IT! That said, I will be happy to return to my calling as a community health nurse and go visit my mommies and babies again next week.
Today, I was pulling weeds and cleaning up the back yard, in a full on sweat. I watched my sun tea steep in the mason jar. I wiped my face over and over again and I was dirty from head to toe. I planted some flowers. I did 2 loads of laundry. I emptied the dishwasher. I did some thinking.
I added up the hours I would have to myself this week, and it came to about 24 hours of a 4 day work week. You see, there are track meets for Jeremiah at noon on Monday and Wednesday and Josiah had a haircut at 2pm Tuesday.....but whatever. For 4 nights I get to end my day without prepping for work the following day. For 4 mornings I get to wake up and help my family start their days.....and then make my coffee and open my bible and sit on my couch for as long as I want to. Dreamy. Necessary.
This is a mental health week for me. I am trying to be in tune with my body, mind and soul so that I can get filled back up again in all areas. It includes time in the Bible and in prayer, and exercise, and fresh air, and fruits and veggies and.....silence. It includes buying and planting flowers and enjoying nature. I used to take a mental health day once a month or so but it has been a long time since I have been able to manage one. Hence......mental health week. At this point, I am half way through my mental health week. (sadly) I plan to meet with a friend or two, have lunch with my husband hopefully tomorrow......and otherwise just do more of what I have been doing.....and listen to my body and my heart and my mind.....because listening is so important.
I listen to my body tell me that it gets harder and harder to be active and feel good with age....and it is important to try harder to be healthy. I listen to my heart tell me that God is present and and cares about the big and the little things in my days. This week, He is challenging me to meditate and consider and study Humility. Yes. Humility. Over and over I read and feel Him tell me to be humble. Curious, isn't it? Apparently I need to fight a war against pride.....with its adversary humility. I trust my Heavenly Father to teach me.......and I am listening for His voice. I listen to my mind and today, when I felt weary I just laid down my head and took a half hour nap. My mind is always busy and thinking and processing.....and I listen now for the thoughts in my head and whether they are healthy or not, positive or negative, from the Lord or from the world.......
I will not have it all figured out by the end of the day on Thursday. Nor by Monday, I am certain....but I will have had some time emotionally and physically to rest and to breathe and to be. I will have had enough time to fill my cup of life again to overflowing so that I can do the work of pouring out everywhere I go and when that cup is running low again, I will take more time.
Please consider this as a way for you, too, to take some time, to connect with your own heart and mind and soul......and to be able to tell when you are empty and in need of a mental health day. Or a vacation. Or both.
Today, I was pulling weeds and cleaning up the back yard, in a full on sweat. I watched my sun tea steep in the mason jar. I wiped my face over and over again and I was dirty from head to toe. I planted some flowers. I did 2 loads of laundry. I emptied the dishwasher. I did some thinking.
I added up the hours I would have to myself this week, and it came to about 24 hours of a 4 day work week. You see, there are track meets for Jeremiah at noon on Monday and Wednesday and Josiah had a haircut at 2pm Tuesday.....but whatever. For 4 nights I get to end my day without prepping for work the following day. For 4 mornings I get to wake up and help my family start their days.....and then make my coffee and open my bible and sit on my couch for as long as I want to. Dreamy. Necessary.
This is a mental health week for me. I am trying to be in tune with my body, mind and soul so that I can get filled back up again in all areas. It includes time in the Bible and in prayer, and exercise, and fresh air, and fruits and veggies and.....silence. It includes buying and planting flowers and enjoying nature. I used to take a mental health day once a month or so but it has been a long time since I have been able to manage one. Hence......mental health week. At this point, I am half way through my mental health week. (sadly) I plan to meet with a friend or two, have lunch with my husband hopefully tomorrow......and otherwise just do more of what I have been doing.....and listen to my body and my heart and my mind.....because listening is so important.
I listen to my body tell me that it gets harder and harder to be active and feel good with age....and it is important to try harder to be healthy. I listen to my heart tell me that God is present and and cares about the big and the little things in my days. This week, He is challenging me to meditate and consider and study Humility. Yes. Humility. Over and over I read and feel Him tell me to be humble. Curious, isn't it? Apparently I need to fight a war against pride.....with its adversary humility. I trust my Heavenly Father to teach me.......and I am listening for His voice. I listen to my mind and today, when I felt weary I just laid down my head and took a half hour nap. My mind is always busy and thinking and processing.....and I listen now for the thoughts in my head and whether they are healthy or not, positive or negative, from the Lord or from the world.......
I will not have it all figured out by the end of the day on Thursday. Nor by Monday, I am certain....but I will have had some time emotionally and physically to rest and to breathe and to be. I will have had enough time to fill my cup of life again to overflowing so that I can do the work of pouring out everywhere I go and when that cup is running low again, I will take more time.
Please consider this as a way for you, too, to take some time, to connect with your own heart and mind and soul......and to be able to tell when you are empty and in need of a mental health day. Or a vacation. Or both.
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