In the terms of MY life, yesterday was a crap day. And I mean CRAP. Working in the mental health field, especially with homeless teens, you are guaranteed to have a few of those days. I am thankful that they are few and far between, but when they do show up, they can run me over pretty quickly. I spent my evening feeling overwhelmed and sorry for myself. I went to bed exhausted, wondering how I manage to balance, or better put – not balance but manage, working full-time running a shelter, being on-call 24-hours a day (everyday) and taking two graduate school classes at Pepperdine. It might be a little easier to manage if the classes weren’t psychology classes that require you to look into yourself and really examine your own style of interaction with the world. Six hours of that intense conversation a week can be draining in itself.
So at 5:30am, mad that I am actually awake at that hour, I was lying in bed trying to figure out how I am going to survive another day and find myself sending a message to a friend to inquire about an upcoming trip I am planning. I tell him:
So we have narrowed it down to Tahiti and Fiji. Any suggestions? My mental exhaustion overwhelmed me last night and I realized all I have the energy to do on a vacation is:
1. Turn over from my front to my back
2. Let someone ELSE move my scuba tank from the boat to the resort
3. Say "yes, I would like another drink, thank you"
Still feeling exhausted, I finally decide to get out of bed and actually make use of this time rather than laying there staring at the ceiling. You would have thought sending that email would have been my eye opener, but no…I meant what I said – I am exhausted and those are the only three things I really want to do on my vacation. The thing that made me stop and put things in perspective was my dishwasher. I hate doing dishes more than almost anything on this earth. I started loading the dishes that were in the sink and thinking in my head, “I hate doing dishes” and stopped. I have a dishwasher. I don’t REALLY have to “do dishes”. I said to myself, “I love my dishwasher” and decided that my life isn’t so bad. I am trying to plan a trip to a tropical island. I have a job that I love. I get to study at an amazing school. I have a dishwasher.
It made me think of the youtube video that was passed around a few months back where a little girl was telling herself in the mirror everything she liked in her life. I think I will go do that now because I do “like my dishwasher”. Watch Video Here
Posts
