Link Party
Hello everyone! Sheryl Chan over at A Chronic Voice is having a Link Party this month. The theme is to write about these topics:
Missing
Appreciating
Striving
Releasing
Eating
Following are my answers to these prompts.
Missing
What I’m really missing in my life right now is my little students. I used to teach Sunday School to kindergarten and first graders two times a month, but my health has not been cooperating with me. It was such a pleasure to have conversations with them and to watch them grow. I do see them before and after church, but usually they’re flying around playing. It’s just not the same.
Appreciating
I was out walking Dottie, my Chihuahua, and I was getting hot and short of breath. Then we came to a cool, shady spot and ahh relief! We lingered for a minute under that tree and listened to the breeze rustle in its branches. The cool breeze tickled our skin. Crickets and other bugs buzzed in the background. My breathing slowed; more relief. Rejuvenated. We made it home where more shade and cold water awaited us.
Striving
To strive means to make great efforts to achieve or obtain something; to struggle or fight vigorously.(Bing) Everyday I strive to do what needs done as I maintain a home, raise a teenager, and work to keep myself out of the hospital. It’s exhausting.
Releasing
To release means to allow something to move, act or flow freely; set free.(Bing) I’m currently in the act of releasing my teenager to adulthood. He is a senior in high school this fall. The last of six children. How hard it is to release control. He’s my baby; but he isn’t anymore. He’s taller than me, smart, funny, outgoing. Friends are more important than mom at this age. That’s how it’s supposed to be. Time flies by so fast; in the blink of an eye they’re grown. This releasing isn’t easy.
Eating
I’m an emotional eater. I also recently confirmed to myself that wheat and I do not get along. I’m trying and failing over and over to eat better. For me, eating is complicated. Yesterday, I made a salad for lunch and then struggled to eat it due to fatigue. Why does healthy, nourishing food require so much effort to buy, to prepare, and to chew?
I roasted a whole, organic chicken on Monday, and I dread the task of picking the meat off the bone. The meat is still firmly attached, except for what we pried off to eat that night. So much for my plan of food prepping ahead of time. Tonight I will have to tackle the task. Maybe if my son isn’t running all over the place, I’ll corral him to help me.
Everywhere you look, we’re being bombarded with healthy eating information. I truly do want to eat better, but I find it so hard to follow through most of the time. The one thing that I’m learning though, is that I need to extend kindness to myself when I run out of energy or make bad choices.
Samantha Russell is an emotional eating coach and former emotional eater. She emphasizes being kind to ourselves and to stop judging ourselves every time we mess up. If you struggle as I do, she is a great resource to check out.
Link Party
If you have a blog, join the link party! If not, reply in the comments below with which one of these themes resonates with you. We all have a story to tell. What’s yours?
Subscribe below for the bimonthly newsletter plus access to subscriber-only freebies. You may unsubscribe at any time, but I’d be thrilled if you stuck around.
You may read my Privacy Policy here.
Till next time, Kathy
I can relate to letting a child go. I only have one and she is starting her senior year in September. I am already having a hard time dealing with her being gone all the time with sports, friends and jobs. I get it!
Sometimes I think this stage of parenting is the hardest. When you’ve been watching over and caring for them for years, it just seems all wrong to let them on their own so much. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one, Melissa.
Thanks for participating in the ‘August 2017 Linkup Party for People with Chronic Illnesses”! So far, it’s been so interesting glimpsing into the world and life stages of others with chronic illness. An eye opener for me and others I’m sure 🙂
Great post. You’re right that we have to strive just to get by in everyday life. Things that ‘healthy’ people don’t even have to think about, take so much effort and energy when living with chronic illness. Wow, you must be busy having six children! I can imagine that must be tough with your youngest growing up. It reminds me to really appreciate the time with my toddler whilst he’s still small. Everyone tells you it flies by, and to be honest going from baby to toddler seemed to go very quickly! I also struggle with wheat and since significantly reducing this in my diet, I’ve noticed some improvement in my symptoms 🙂