rest

Practicing TKD

My TKD classes take a a summer break and I love taking time away from that weekly routine.

I generally don’t need a break from TKD per se, I need a break from having to get to class twice a week at a specific time.

This year though, I also needed the physical break, the time away from the movements.

After the stress and pain around my Dad’s passing in May and the stress of scrambling to catch up on things in June, I needed to just let my body do what it wanted to do at whatever pace it wanted to do it for a while.

Today, though, it was time to get back to those movements and it felt really good.

I just did the first four patterns, relatively easy stuff that my brain and my muscles are very familiar with.

And it was fantastic.

I loved the almost meditative quality of those familiar movements, the ease of just letting my body do something it knows how to do.

And I felt very satisfied with the whole process when I was finished.

Self care for the win.

On retreat but not in retreat

A few times each year, I go away for a weekend retreat with some dear friends of mine for a few days of writing, rest, and snacks.

I could only join them for one night this time but I am making the most of it.

So far I’ve had great conversations and delicious snacks and now I am doing a little resting before doing some writing.

Every time I come to one of these retreats, I tell myself that I’m going to re-create some of this feeling at home.

So the key for me should be making sure that I revisit these ideas.

Of course, that’s often the problem with my good ideas is that I forget to revisit them.

Let’s hope that the smallness of these ones helps.

Decisions, decisions – a good problem to have ;)

This is the kind of evening I dream of when I feel tense or when it feels like the winter will never end.

I’m sitting on my patio on a warm summer night, deciding whether to draw or to read while I drink my (non-alcoholic!) beer.

A photo of a table with a bottle, an ereader and a sketchbook and markers on it.
Image description: a angled-down view of a small red patio table with a bottle of Corona Sunbrew non-alcoholic beer (which is covered in condensation), an e-reader in a blue and gold patterned case, and an open sketchbook with six markers on top of it. In the background there’s another patio chair, the bottom of the railing, and the end of a string of warm white lights.

All peopled out

I’m really enjoying my conference but it’s really easy to get all peopled out.

I wish that, even in a crowd, I had some sort of personal bubble device I could step into and regain my equilibrium before stepping back out.

I truly love interacting with people and hearing what they have to say so this isn’t about them being a bother, it’s about my brain needing a break so I can be present as my favourite self.

Reminding Myself To Rest

No matter how many times I remind myself that work and rest are part of the same cycle, I still forget.

It’s not that I am so caught up in productivity that I refuse to rest.

And it’s not that I think that my value lies in my work.

It’s that I literally forget that doing a lot of things a lot of days in a row makes me tired.

So at the end of a flurry of busy days, I find it weird to be tired and my brain wanders off in search of the reason why.

And then, when realization dawns, I have a good laugh at myself and take some downtime.

Brains are weird creatures.