Recalibrating

Since June, it’s been a bit bumpy and lumpy around our house. We’ve (I) have been a bit lopsided. This is due to many things, including the following:

*Deployment (duh!) The kids have good days and bad days but 5 months into this – the novelty for all of us has definitely expired!

*Fall/Winter: the “idea” of seasons is great. It brings up feelings of nostalgia and the holidays. Picturesque ideals of the family sipping cocoa around a fireplace after raking the leaves come to my mind. The reality – not so much. I hate the cold. (And since losing weight, I’m cold ALL THE TIME!) I really dislike the “dark at 4:30pm” thing, too. Between living in Pensacola and Hawaii, living in a colder climate has lost all appeal to me. Ive become a weather weinee! All I want to do is sleep and eat casseroles. I don’t. But I want to.

*The kids adjusting: between Jake starting preschool, doctors appointments, dentist appointments, fitting in a race here and there, keeping up with bootcamp workouts, family and friends, etc., it feels like a lot much of the time.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take a step back and recalibrate. 6 days a week of “something to do” is just too much for my kidlets. It would work for me, if it was just me. Staying busy helps during a deployment. But they are tired. It’s time for us to take a pause.

Breathe.

Be.

I started doing my workouts in the evening when the kids are in bed. Some days it’s difficult to walk back down those stairs and get to work when it would be so much easier to just go crawl in bed. But I have yet to regret a workout!

I also got a “blue light”. (Not the KMart variety.) It’s made by Phillips and helps with vitamin D production and the effects of SAD or the “winter blues”. Everyone I’ve talked to raved about how well they work. I have to agree. Although I would much rather experience the real thing, my little blue light does help!

I’ve taken a break from the routine. Just because its on the calendar doesn’t mean we HAVE to do it. Sometimes I struggle with this, as if I have to entertain the kidlets all the time. I think there is this “hurry hurry – go go go” feeling lately (and always during the holidays) between “workout!” “Get fit!” “Eat this!” “Don’t eat that!” “Make this Pinterest craft!!” “Post that to Facebook!” “Be The best parent by next Tuesday!!!!” “Save the Earth in 543 easy steps!” “Do 78 things simultaneously all while cooking dinner, looking fabulous, and have that smile on your face!”

It exhausts me.

I get caught up in “I should be doing this… or that” instead of just focusing on what I’m doing right here. Right now. In this moment.

Recalibrating. Focusing on what really matters, being in a thankful, quiet, sort of mindset with a minimal amount of “busy” is very appealing, particularly at this time of the year.

What do you do to recalibrate or reset life?