Learning the Art of Relaxation

I am starting the new year of 2014 attempting to learn the art of relaxation. Well try to learn 2 different arts....that of balance and that of relaxation. While I have never considered myself to be a workaholic I have realized over the past few years that intentionally relaxing is not something I really do. And the times that I have attempted to, I find it virtually impossible because the entire time I'm stewing over what I should be or could be doing, thus making my time of relaxation rather stressful and hard to enjoy. I have found myself rereading the same page of a book literally 5 times over because I didn't comprehend anything that I read the 4 previous times because I was dwelling on this or that project that needed to be done. I, quite frankly, am sick and tired of feeling guilty over taking time out to do something calming and relaxing. I am exhausted. My body aches because I haven't had enough time in my schedule to book a chiropractic appointment for myself so I suck it up, deal with the pain and keep going. But no more. This girl is putting her foot down. Am I going to become an irresponsible, lazy slob?! No. But I AM going to start setting aside a little bit of time for me. To take care of me.

There is nothing wrong with having a lazy morning every now and then. I am thoroughly enjoying one right now! I don't work until 12:30 today so what am I doing with my morning you ask....well I will tell you! I woke up around 8 a.m. (which is majorly sleeping in for me!), proceeded to lay in bed occasionally dozing off until 8:30ish, then I STILL stayed in bed and read a couple of chapters in a book I have been attempting to read for a year now (yes, a YEAR! This coming from a girl who can read a decent sized book in under 5 hours...shows you just how much time I've been taking out to do a thing I love most - read.). After that I got up, got dressed, did my hair, washed my face, and meandered down to the kitchen where I cooked up 2 scrambled eggs, fried up a left over dumpling from Christmas (my favorite breakfast food ever!), made myself a cup of coffee and grabbed an apple. I sat down and ate my delicious breakfast while browsing Pinterest on my phone and checking my emails. I am still working on my yummy cup of coffee now while I sit here blogging (another thing I always enjoyed but only got around to doing a couple of times last year). Through all of this I have determined that slowly sipping my cup of coffee is much more enjoyable than guzzling it down as I rush out the door for work. Granted that probably won't change on the mornings that I do work....

When your doctor looks at you and tells you at 23 (this was early last year) that you are adrenaly exhausted and on the verge of being adrenaly burnt out (aka your adrenal glands cannot produce any more adrenaline because you have completely depleted them and they take a very long time to recover and replenish) it's time to slow down and take some things into consideration. But why has it taken me a whole year to do that?! Because I never slowed down enough to stop and think about much of anything at all...there was always this and that and the other thing that needed doing. Will I still live a busy life? Yes. I work 40 hours a week, take a French class one night a week, have church 3 times a week and am one of the Arts Department Directors of the aforementioned church, not to mention I have 2 dogs to take care of, chores around the house and a very small social life that I attempt to keep going so that I don't find myself exhausted AND friendless! BUT in the year of 2014 I am committing to learning how to balance my life out in order to both accomplish everything that needs to be done in a timely matter but to also allow myself some rest and relaxation, time to do the things I love to do that I haven't been able to do and enjoy in a long while. So if you see me running around like a chicken with it's head cutoff, looking stressed out, looking exhausted or hating my life just stop me and ask me how the whole balanced life/relaxation thing is going... I'll probably need a reminder now and again. Things must be prioritized or everything will seem like the #1 task to be done. And that's when the stress and overwhelming occurs. I'm young, I should be enjoying my life, not dreaded what needs to be done the next day. SO here's to a happier, less stressful, more enjoyable 2014! Happy New Year!!!