As I thought about this, I wondered what was pulling me away from enjoying the moment. I realized it often wasn’t the “What’s next?” question, as I had expected and wrote about in my last post. Although, my emotions were still focused on the ingrained future-thinking, there was a key difference: “What’s NOT next?” What is part of this moment that won’t be the same in the future?
The other night, in the midst of fighting off a miserable head cold, the second bug to hit in less than ten days, I willingly went to bed at 8:30. This is not a normal routine but I was so tired I could hardly move. I fell asleep unusually fast and awoke the next morning …
The Unexpected Ever Afters will be taking an unexpected summer break until the middle of July. We look forward to returning July 17th. Happy Summer! ~Wendi & Jessica
I am still struggling to be okay with being okay. I frequently find myself stuck in a cycle of thinking about “what’s next,” frequently daydreaming about the next big thing. Trying to slow down while inundated with the demand to do the opposite feels like a losing battle.
My eight year old son was recently plagued by a recurring nightmare. This nightmare disrupted our sleep and exacerbated his already slow moving, groggy mornings. Being no stranger to sleeplessness due to middle of the night awake sessions, I turned to a handful of tricks to try to ease his night fears. Interestingly, some of the kid-friendly nightmare vanquishing tips have actually helped me with my own overthinking. Parenting has an amusing way of ensuring I am learning as much as I am teaching.
It has been a long journey, almost five years, to rediscover and readjust to my new body cycles, health rhythms, and emotions. But, my biggest take-away right now is the reminder that emotions are complex, sometimes intense, and that is okay. As I have made my way through February, I have practiced pausing and identifying the emotions I actually feel. Then I gently remind myself to be thankful I can feel again, the good and the bad. Even when it is hard, this process of acquainting myself with the emotions present in all of life’s journey is often worth it.
As I prepared for this year’s Valentine’s-themed blog, I read through last year’s Love Is…post. It was an encouraging day-brightener for me, being reminded of some anecdotes of what love means and how it is often expressed. I started thinking about the ways love fills my life, from the love I feel both from and …
There have been years where my goals were outlined with a clear understanding of success or failure. I focused on an outcome I wanted to pursue and outlined steps to achieve my goals. Not this year. This year I am choosing a different journey. A journey that reminds me that my year doesn’t need to be full of big changes or big successes.
As we enter another holiday season, I’m reminded of the reality that the anticipation of the celebrations and the initial enthusiasm for the traditions can sometimes be derailed by the nuance and contradictions of the season. Excitement can be deflated by stress and unrealistic expectations. The busyness of the holidays can distract from the joy of the season. While navigating this year’s festivities , I took the opportunity to reflect on a past post, “The Little Things”, and to revisit the question of “What is saving your life right now?”
On my “smash the glass days,” the reminder to create “space” seemed to have an opposite effect: instead of the stress escaping, the space seemed to make room for my anxiety with a reminder that “the world is a terrible place.”
the unexpected ever afters 