Counting Down the Days

I love this quote by Karen von Blixen-Finecke. It rings of truth and experience from a woman who probably had many adversities like we all face every single day. She found her release, like we all do sometimes, through work, tears and getting away from it all. 

Some people pour themselves into their work when they are stressed, and may indeed do some of their very best work during those times. Personally, I tend to deep clean the house when I'm stressed, which is definitely making a positive from a negative. The emotional stress relief of crying may be the one I use most often. I call mine the meltdown. Honestly, I handle stress really well. I've had loved ones in the hospital for cardiac issues or sick babies running high fever with a cry that just breaks your heart. Through all those things, I hold it together to take care of the matter at hand. Emotions only get in the way at that point, so I try to stay focused and alert to always know what is going on around me and what decisions I need to make. Once I know those I love are safe; once I know the threat has passed; once I see them without pain and fear in their eyes, then I have my meltdown. My body releases all the emotions and fears it kept at bay in a huge flood that shakes me to my core. I firmly believe we need that total release in order to pull ourselves back together and go forward with our lives again. 

The final stress reliever she mentions is the sea. 

This is a picture my husband took on our last trip to Florida in September. Our trip is already booked for this year. There is something about the sound of the waves, the breeze like no other and the sand underfoot that literally melts away the burdens that weigh heavy on our shoulders. This is my very favorite!

Right now our lives are like walking through a thick forest where our path is filled with the unknown and uncontrollable. As we walk through this forest for the next year or so, my husband will take a new job in a new town which will take us away from all that we have ever known to be home; I will become a stay-at-home-mom, cutting our family income in half; I will start homeschooling my children as my daughter starts kindergarten, and my in-laws will continue their battle of the cancer that has invaded each of their bodies. The forest of unknowns. For a girl who likes a plan, this is not a good place to be. While some of our changes are exciting, they are all a bit terrifying; too terrifying to try to think about all at the same time. For now, we focus. We focus on the days until we are there for the salt water to aid in our stress relief, and we face one day at a time in the best way we know how.