Overwhelm
Tired
Anxious
Ok, so something has to change. I know that I need to slow down and spend more time alone, more time processing things and less time running around at home, around town, and all over the Internet as well. More time to walk, read, sleep, and create. Less time answering the phone and responding to the various and sundry needs that are presented before me each day. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do that as yet, but I feel I MUST do it and will come up with a plan. That's my goal.
When I lose perspective and can't see my life as sacred, I know beyond a doubt that it still is. One of my favorite quotes that I've ever, ever read---since I first read it one month ago---is from Carla's "other" blog, Women at Rest:
It's called "When Breathing is Enough" and it is here:
"Never mind trying to be extraordinary, phenomenal, brilliant. There are periods in life when it takes every scrap of what's left of one's energy just to sit upright.Be gentle with yourself today."
Maybe someone besides me needs to hear this today.
UPDATE: Another quote, this one from Mary South in September's O Magazine:
"Seize the day if you must, but do so gently and never, ever shake it. All days are not alike, and some of them are just not meant for seizing."
~Picture by LoveHubbie Mark
8 comments:
Hi Olivia! 146?!?!! I'm having trouble keeping up with this group. For instance, I so appreciate your comments almost every day but until today I have not put you together with your blog. (Hamguin notes having the same trouble and I think I win the award for longest comment on a post!)
My mom stitched me a pillow the year my daughter was born and I was suffering from PPD - it reads: Things to do today: 1.Breathe in 2.Breathe out. Go for it!!
There's no way I could keep up with 146 blogs! (but I understand how easy it is to get carried away with blogging) It is so good that you are able to recognise that it is time to be gentle with yourself. As I sit here, your post has reminded me to inhale deeply, then exhale.
146 is crazy; I can see that now, that's for sure. This is my pattern---I get all excited, take on too much, convince myself I can do it, then crash.
I've trying to head off the crash this time by turning things around early (I hope).
I'm really pulling back this weekend. I feel quite depleted and need to carve out quality time and jettison anything I can do so and not miss it.
You ladies are absolutely right!
Too much to do...so little time! that seems to be the mantra of the decade for most! I know exactly what you mean...it all sounds so exciting and like so much fun, and who wants to miss out on fun. This summer I cut 'way back on online commitments, art commitments and other things that started out as fun and ended up being more stressfull than fun. It was good - i feel refreshed and now i'm trying to watch that i don't jump back in the frying pan...which is why I'm only doing a sacred life post once a week!
The Breathing Enough quote is fantastic! And I LOVE the picture.
I'm sure you will now which blogs to cut down on. Perhaps a good guide may be to cut out ones where you haven't made a mutual connection with the blogger. One of the things I really enjoy about the blogs I visit is knowing that I get visited back, that there is a dialogue going on between each other and you have connected in some small way to each others lives.
Take care of you, Olivia
Annie
xxx
Hey Olivia, Love your blog! I was working with a coach and trying to figure out what to "do" next with my life. He suggested that perhaps I did not have to "do" anything...that simply being is enough...Whoa! I still cling to that one! ~Beverly
Thanks, Kate, Annie, and Beverly, I appreciate what each of you say. I am going to cut back, be involved with blogs where I cultivate relationships, and be satisfied with being rather than doing. These are all great ideas.
It's funny, my collage that I'm working on is my shredded old TO DO lists, with the words "DO" "DO" "DO" glued all over. Then yesterday, as I was working on it, my computer crashed, leaving my online radio stuck at a woman saying "DO something" "DO something" "DO something" over and over---till I finally hard-crashed it by turning it off.
Think the Universe is trying to tell me something?
This weekend, for me, is all about slowing down, and self-care.
Thanks, you gals, for caring!
GREAT quotes! Yes, there are times I need to remind myself, "BACK AWAY from the computer!"
Thank you for your nice comment - I appreciate it.
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