It’s hot here in Northern California and my body just isn’t used to it. I’m sluggish, irritable, congested and longing for cooler times (like all of August when I complained that it was summer, and wasn’t it supposed to be warm?!)
I’m lucky in that I work close enough to home to walk home on my lunch break and relax with my cats. But today, I was so sluggish in the stuffiness of the heat that I couldn’t get much done. I couldn’t even nap successfully!
As I was just laying around, I realized that I’ve been feeling frantic lately – to get things done, spend time with folks, do yoga, run, eat right, read, write, work, oh and find my life’s purpose while I’m doing all of that.
I need to slow down. I want to appreciate my days; I want to spend more time with Alex and more time at home, cooking and trying out new recipes. I want to not feel rushed, but not feel lazy. I can’t remember the last time I spent the afternoon reading or working on a craft project. I want more of that in my life!
Part of the purpose of this blog is focusing on wholeness – balancing the busy-ness and the lazy-ness to create productivity that doesn’t feel frantic. Part of this means trusting that my friends will understand when I say no. Trusting that if I don’t do the dishes or the laundry or the dusting right away, the world will not fall apart.
I just read a book called What Happy Women Know and it talks a great deal about how women feel often that they are not enough and the different traps they fall into that make them unhappy. One of these traps is perfectionism – something I often struggle with. And I know that the people in my life will understand if things aren’t perfect – so why should have those expectations of myself?
My favorite part about it is that the author, Dr. Dan Baker, is focused on positive psychology. He says if you focus on talking about your problems all the time, you’ll never feel better (even if the intent is to figure them out). He says to focus on the good things in your life or the small, beautiful things. The more you focus on them, even if it’s hard or irrelevant (for example, how beautiful a flower is even if your entire life is falling apart around you) that you can re-train your brain.
So I am going to start slowing down and appreciating and bringing some balance to my life! And hopefully this means more recipes and fun food stories here as well.
Until next time!
Holistic Herbivore 