Tag Archives: Rest

Things I Learned While Sick for A Week

I’ve been absent from my blog, and for the most part from social media, for the last week or so. What began as “Hey, I think I have a cold,” turned into “Wow! I’m really sick!”

Here are a few things I learned during a week of staying in bed, moving to the couch, and returning to the bed.

I hate being sick.
Staying home for a week sounds wonderful, but it really isn’t when you’re sick.
Daytime TV is horrible.
I can’t concentrate on a book when I’m sick.
Writing is difficult because of the lack of concentration thing.
It really does pay to have blog posts completed and scheduled for a week or two in advance. (I failed miserably.)
Showering is overrated.
Shaving is too.
When you think you’re better, you’re probably not.
Taking one extra day off work to completely heal isn’t going to kill you. Not healing completely might.

Now, as a new week begins, I’m ready to jump in again with both feet! Time to move forward on the BHAG!

Q: What happens to your hustle when you get sick?

Holding On

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Recently I discovered myself holding on to something.

I had been holding on to it for quite a long time. I can remember when I began holding it. You would think I would have let go by now. I couldn’t.

The brutal honest fact is that most of the time I didn’t know I was holding it. I had become so comfortable with it that I forgot I was holding it.

During a counseling session a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly realized I was holding it.
(Yep. Counseling. Mom it’s okay. People can know that your 42-year-old son is seeing a counselor.)

It was heavy. Unbearably heavy.

How did I become so comfortable with this extremely heavy burden?

Over the course of almost three decades I had learned to live with it. It is a close comfortable friend. Well, not really a friend.

I’m sure you understand. I’m sure there is a person in your life that is always around. You’ve tried to leave a few times, but the separation never really happens. They are with you.

Always.

Many times they are present during the good times. But you know in your heart the soul piercing dagger they wield will show up eventually. Once again you will wonder why you put up with their mere presence in your life.

But you know why you let them remain. They are comfortable. An always present baseline of sorts.

Soul sucking people. Soul sucking events. Soul sucking, joy killing actions.

Why do we hold them so tightly?

What I’m holding isn’t a person. It is an event. More accurately, a series of events.

These events came to me one at a time. Each one found a place to sit in my psyche. One at a time doesn’t weigh too much. All together is a different story.

Are you holding something tightly that is destructive? How long have you had a death grip on it? What would happen if you let it go?

**Read “Letting Go” to learn more about my depression and ongoing recovery/”battle”.

Taking A Break

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Do you ever take a break? You know. A real break. Not the vacation insanity that most of us go through every summer and Spring Break. Those times are wonderful, especially with a young family, but I’m talking about a real break. A rest. Some may say a “sabbath”.

How should I put this? Try this: A time to get away and reflect. A time to recharge. A time to bring your focus in life back to what is most important to you.

A break/rest can be different for many people. Do you need to be cloistered in a cabin in the woods with no outside influence? Some people would be so stressed by the silence they wouldn’t rest at all. A new term I learned recently would apply to those folks. “Fear of Missing Out” or “#fomo” if you want to hashtag it for social media. If you looked at the picture I posted, you may be able to guess that my version of a break/rest is a calm, peaceful, quiet place. I would revel in the silence. I crave a place that I can quiet my mind and focus my thoughts on what is important to me. Is it necessary for me to leave my wife and kids for a few days in order to find that quiet place? I don’t think so.

We all dream of traveling somewhere to spend time away from our day to day responsibilities. But, can you find that place at home in the midst of your busy life? I believe you can. I believe I can. I just haven’t spent the time to find it yet.

Do you have a place like this? At home? Away from home?