Skip to main content

Reflect


Here.
I can't tell, really, what it is. Is it November, the start of the holiday season? Is it the after move slump? We have been here now four months and we are definitely feeling that day to day monotony, the routine, the dullness. Is it the weather? The temperature has dropped here and there's a breeze in the air. I find it comforting, cozy. But it makes me want to curl up on the couch and chat. Is it missing home? Or missing people, more likely? Or the recent news of the death of a colleague? Another mass shooting at home?

I feel the need to reflect, sit, process. A bit nostalgic. For what I'm not sure. 

Is there a term for being completely overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time? Overwhelmed by the underwhelming monotony of small, menial, day to day tasks. Maybe that's what I'm feeling.

This mom stuff is no joke. Every time I feel the desire to share or talk about it, I immediately feel silly. I know about a million people in tougher mom situations than I am. More kids. Less money. Health conditions. Single moms. I feel silly complaining. I feel silly being surprised by the amount of work it is. I find myself looking around on a daily basis and thinking, how do they do it? But they do. We do. Women do. It is pretty impressive. 


And here.
I want to allow myself the space to observe and feel the tension and anxiety of being a new mom. I don't want to encourage the narrative that oh hey, this is easy. Maybe it is for some people, and God bless them. I have found it to be pretty tough. And that's okay. It's tough and wonderful. It can be too tough, too much, when I drift from the present moment and look forward. It has never been too much when I am all there, focused, present, fully in the moment. 

That is the biggest lesson I have learned, and am still learning. Throughout my life, really, that has been the continuing theme. Be. Here. Now.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thunder

Thailand tops the charts in my book when it comes to storms. I am not sure if I've lived in a place with more spectacular storms than here. All the curtains are drawn in my bedroom yet slices of lightening are still breaking through. The thunder just passed directly over me. I check the monitor for fear of it waking Elsie up. Seems like the loud shaking would startle a baby! Not yet, though. I am sure as she gets older, she'll become more aware, and thus more afraid.  Railay Beach, Thailand What is it about pouring rain that is so comforting? I absolutely love it. I am not one to complain about a good rain, although this past weekend I may have once or twice. We took our first Thailand vacation, which happened to be Elsie's first trip to the beach. It rained and rained and continued to rain. For the entire Saturday, it never stopped. Ever. There's only so much you can do in a hotel room, with a baby, for an entire day. So of course we strapped her on Jake's ba...

Correcaminos!

I was pretty excited to find out, on my first morning here, that Lindsey (our host sister) is part of a running team, and she immediately told me where to find a track close by. Before flying here, I really had no idea what to expect of the work-out situation in Costa Rica. I have since discovered that more people exercise outside in this country than anywhere else I have lived! Jake and I have been amazed by the number of cyclists and runners that line the highways, eerily close to the traffic.  Starting line Lindsey told me that she had a race coming up in a few weeks, on that first morning. I was interested but quickly realized that it was on the last day of our 2 week vacation. I did not intend to be in good shape during vacation, so I sadly dismissed the idea. Running a race in another country is interesting to me; a unique way to experience the culture. My first (real) race, I ran in Turkey with Lacey. It was an extremely motivating experience, and I want to continua...

Bali

Who doesn't want to go to Bali? It just sounds idyllic! Jake and I decided to go to Bali for our October vacation. About a month beforehand, evacuations were ordered from the government because Mt. Agung is supposed to erupt at any moment. It was deemed safe as long as you stay outside of this 12 kilometer radius. Still, when we arrived in Ubud, we were quite nervous to see the smoke billowing from the top of Agung, from our pool. It certainly didn't look far enough away to be safe during an eruption. Proximity coupled with the roads in Bali had me a bit worried. I heard they were narrow, terrible roads, but I had to see them to believe it. Incredibly narrow and filled with moving cars, parked cars, motorcycles, carts, animals, pedestrians. It was clear we were not going to get anywhere quickly. Beautiful sunset in the rice fields Okay, okay....all that build up for nothing. It didn't erupt! Yet...but it totally will soon. We were definitely nervous, and probably...