Last week my stepfather died. Most accurately, he was my ex-stepfather as he and my mother were divorced about 20 years ago when I was in college. As with so many things today, this is a complicated situation.
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I am grateful, first and foremost, for my husband. He has been in my life for 15 years now and is the sun to my earth, the musician for my dance, the partner of my dreams.
I am grateful for my job, which is stimulating and diverse and yet pays me well enough to live my dreams.
I am grateful for my friends. They are a wonderful group of interesting, intelligent people. Through them I learn about the world and see it through different eyes.
I am grateful for my coven, past, present, and future. Through them I am taught new things, constantly.
I am grateful for my teachers. Their gentle discipline and guidance has opened up new vistas for me to explore.
I am grateful for my family. We’ve been through a lot, and evolved into several different permutations, and there will always be love.
I am grateful for my home, which is beautiful and a source of safety on many levels.
I am grateful for the Deity, without whom I would not be.
(A friend asked for my advice on tackling the office. Here’s my reply)
You’re right that its a big project, all the more so because it’s not a room anyone writes about when they are talking about organization. (I think everyone its dismayed!) So here is what I’ve done, feel free to use what makes sense and ignore the rest.
(To be revisited in six months, around my birthday.)
Health:
Peri-menopause is proving to be more difficult than I expected, although why I thought it would be another else, I’m not sure. Having spent two years attempting to get in better shape I find myself at the same place, nearly, that I was post-chemo. This (literally) depressing. (A mental state I wrestle with far too often to be healthy.)
I love to read, I also read for a living (thanks Facing North!). So you’d think these reading challenges would be easy. . .
Here’s how I’m doing so far in 2016:
You can’t.
I’ve spent the last three years in a job that used to be fun and occasionally stressful, but rewarding, but is now very stressful and holds me with golden handcuffs. I know I’m stressed, my expanding middle and over-burdened adrenaline system tell me that, nearly constantly.
I keep waiting for the job to calm down, so I can get a handle on it.
A few weeks ago, as I was lying on a massage table getting work done because my low back was in pain (surprise surprise) I had a tremendous realization. The job isn’t going to change; I will never get a handle on it. I need to change my reaction.
So, I can’t control work, but I can control my response to it.
I’m pretty sure this is not news to the world. But I’m putting it out there because I don’t want to lose track of this realization, it’s pretty important for me.
Next in our year of organizing was the library.
First of all, we looked through the house and found the books that were ‘living’ elsewhere and brought them into the room. Then we went through our books, shelf by shelf and decided to keep (or not). This took most of Saturday, and resulted in three large bags of books going out to be sold. ($45!)
Our first organizing project of the year was the garage. It seemed especially appropriate after the extra special mess created by the holidays.
I love to read, I also read for a living (thanks Facing North!). So you’d think these reading challenges would be easy. . .
Here’s how I’m doing so far in 2016:
More than anything, I feel healthy when I get enough sleep. That amount has varied over the years, but it’s getting to be a larger number. I get up early, most days, so managing an evening social life has become more difficult as a result. But if I don’t get 7.5 hours of sleep, I really notice it. I can get by on 6 hours for a few days, but the ‘fog’ is perceptible, and coffee required . . . which can lead to restless sleep and not getting enough sleep, needing caffeine to function . . . BAM! vicious circle enacted. No bueno. Some weekends I sleep in and get 9 hours, and that feels great. I do that on vacations as well, I notice.