Blog Challenge: Day Sixteen - When to Say "No" to Yourself

I'm sorry for skipping a post yesterday. I will make up for it right now by doing a double-post today. We will have this one, along with my first guest blog! *squeeeeeal*
I'm excited! :-)

A storm came through yesterday that watered the plants and washed some gunk away. But it brought the dreaded "crud" with it, and I felt it instantly last night. I climbed in to bed at 9:00pm and didn't lift a finger until this morning. I woke up with a stuffed head and a sore throat. Fun fun!

So I took Andrew to a play date, paid some bills, made up the menu, went grocery shopping, and swung by the bank before heading home to relax. I decided to back out on Girls Night tonight so I could get some rest and relax at home. Girls Night is something I look forward to, but I know that it would be better for me to stay in, eat something light (and preferable with clear broth), take a hot bath with a warm facial compress, drink some hot ginger and honey tea, and snuggle up in PJs for the evening. So even though I want to go out tonight, and I wanted to go eat lunch with Grace at school again, and I want to make up the work out I missed earlier this week by doing another double workout, I am going to say "no" to myself.

On that note........ with this blog challenge, I have found that I have to say "no" to myself more often than I could have ever imagined I would need to. Swarming in negativity for years makes negative thinking a behavioral problem. I have to stop my train of thought quite a bit now and force it to turn around towards positive matters. I will find myself beginning to think that I am not doing enough, I am not doing it good enough, or I am not doing something right. I have to stop myself mid-thought and tell myself "No, that is not how you view yourself. You are a wonderful person, and you try your best at everything you do. You are doing a fantastic job and everything is going very well.". But, also, along with that..... I have to tell myself that it is okay to have down-time and let some things slip for a while. I don't need to spend every waking moment of my day cleaning, learning, volunteering, teaching, running errands, keeping Andrew 100% stimulated, exercising, and running myself in to the ground. There needs to be a balance. I have found that I truly need my down-time in order to refresh myself and to reconnect with myself. I can keep saying "yes" to everyone around me, and to my own high-pressure expectations, or I can say "no, I need some time for myself".

Since Andrew is starting a pre-k program next week, I am going to dedicate my week to finding ways to reconnect with myself by saying "no" to my own flurries of excited thought and high demands of myself. A week of true relaxation and meditation (as relaxing as a mom can possibly make it).

Wish me luck!

Be on the lookout for the guest blog, it will be up a little later today.

Thanks!