This last week was a hodgepodge of experience, so there are multiple words I could choose. Generally, it was a combination of excitement, tension and stress at work, and relaxation, enjoyment and company during the weekend.
My 2024 Vision Board (only a few weeks late)
I don’t really like dividing my life into work and weekends because I want things to feel more cohesive, but right now that’s the phase in which I find myself.
Regardless, throughout the week I felt exhausted. Night after night, I did not sleep enough. I stayed up too late reading, writing, watching TV, and generally messing around. As I reflect on the week, I’m thinking I need to reevaluate how I unwind. Because right now, it involves a lot of doom-scrolling,then a shower, then watching something until my brain shuts itself off.
There’s not a ton of mindfulness in that approach. And this week showed me just how important rest can be. While nothing actively went wrong, I still found myself moodier, shorter, and generally less enthusiastic about the world because I was so tired. Luckily, I had a three day weekend, which meant lots of sleeping in without the burden of dreading what’s to come (such as a late shift at work).
I don’t like to live life dreading the work half of my day, and generally I don’t. But when I don’t set myself up to have sustained energy through the week, I start to see a problem -- and a pattern.
So this is less of a reflection on last week, and more of a challenge to myself this coming week. I’m going to attempt to go to sleep before 2:30 am, and try to be in bed with my eyes closed at midnight. This also means having more intentionality with winding down after work. I figure if I can get adequate sleep, then maybe this week will be less of a battle between stress and peace.
Overall, it was a good week at work. I was productive and effective. This weekend was truly stellar though, to my surprise. I went in expecting a casual, peaceful weekend and had a lot more fun than I anticipated.
I highly value good company. Growing up, I struggled to find people whose company I actually enjoyed. It might have been from the slim pickings at my small school, or the type of people attracted by my district, but I had serious difficulty finding friends that didn’t drain my energy.
Now, thankfully, I’ve found people I cherish and would gladly spend time with. And this weekend only reinforced that as I created some pretty spectacular vision boards (as seen above), and played a mean game of pickleball. I’m naturally social, so spending joyful time with people I actually like is a real treat.
It’s also fortunate to know that the affection is mutual. I value them and they value me equally and there’s no question about whether or not they want to be around me. It’s taken me a long time to get to this place and I wouldn’t be surprised if that belief falters from time to time, but looking back at how things were 5 years ago, I now live in a completely different world.
Through rest and reflection, I’m overwhelmed with appreciation for those in my life. I just need to practice intentional rest and relaxation, and hopefully the gratitude will just flow.
It’s a great life; I just need to make sure I have the energy for it.
Until next time.
Comments