Take Time To Smell The Roses

I woke up again in the middle of the night last night.  These sleepless hours in the night are 'normal' as we get older.....so I've been told.  As I worked on sleep I noticed my hands were clenched again.  Can you say STRESS?

I come from Pioneer and Immigrant stock.  The generations before me had to work hard and work hard they did.  I taught my children to work hard and often burned the candle at both ends and sometimes in the middle.  Chiropractors and Doctors all told me that I needed to relax a bit or I'd be shaving years off my life.  Listen?  No!  Of our children, one Bio son is exactly like me and one not so much.  One of my adopted daughters didn't get the message at all and the last one totally got the message inspite of it not coming naturally for her.  They say we should learn from each other and especially allow God to teach us through our children.

The son I need to learn the most from in this area is my second son.  Chris (a State Trooper) always felt we worked to hard.  Don't get me wrong, he's a hard worker and well sought after because of it, however he's learned the value of setting back and relaxing or just having a good time.

Now is the time to face the facts! I need to get some regular sleep!

While Quilting and Sewing can be relaxing I always take it to the level of stress by trying to be Super Woman and make more than I need to in an alloted time and turning it into a pressure situation.  Same with Gardening, Knitting or whatever I'm doing.  Not an easy thing for myself. 

I always think I can do more than I can.  Are you a list maker?  Have you seen my lists?  I can never get them done in a day and then I'm hard on myself for not getting it done.  SHEESH!  Relax Woman!

So I'm going to try to learn to relax......my family and friends have permission to remind me...............like it might do any good............but remind me anyway.  If you have any ideas for how I can accomplish this task I'll sure take a look at it.

Here's some of my thoughts:

• 20 minutes a day or more with God, my Father, in the Bible and Prayer
• 20 minutes a day or more in some kind of book (they say you should have two or three books going at a time)
• Going for a 20 minute walk every day
• 20 minutes a day just talking with my Husband

This is just under an hour and a half a day.  I'll keep you posted.  Maybe I'll be able to stop taking that high blood pressure medication, eh?