3 out of the last 6 nights involved more traveling than sleeping. I camped Friday night an hour away in Tennessee, and while the traveling didn’t interfere with sleeping, it was camping and I was up at 3am trying to find new BFFs. I stayed Sunday night at my Mom’s in Knoxville after a late night out and woke up at 3am Alabama time to come home. And then last night we went to Montevallo to see E’s show (it was GREAT) and didn’t get home until 11pm. Of the other 3 nights that could have been peaceful nights sleep in my own bed, two of them had Wes up with leg cramps. So, basically, of the last 6 nights I’ve only had ONE that was even remotely decent in terms of sleep.
I’m very tired, is my point.
But I’m also very behind on life.
I did not get as far as I wanted on some stuff yesterday before we left town so I wanted to get up before 4am to get started today. But I woke up at 4:15. I thought: Get to work! Stat! (What does STAT mean? I’ve just heard it on hospital shows.) So I made my coffee, sat down at the computer, and doodled.
Was working on my zendoodle on my list of things to do today? No. Not at all. Were there ninety things on my To Do list that I could have been doing instead? Yes.
But, instead of those things, for five minutes while I sipped my first couple cups of coffee? I did some zendoodling.
I still haven’t found time to try meditation, or download the Headspace App so many of you raved about. Mainly because it’s something new I have to learn, but I’ve been forcing myself to doodle in the mornings with my first cup of coffee. Just something to kinda clear my head, especially on a day like today when I’m so stressed about deadlines and dirty laundry and groceries and the million things I’m behind on this week. I knew, even though I was/am behind, that taking 5 minutes to doodle would help me not start the day as a ball of anxiety who actually becomes less productive because she’s so stressed.
Is it going to make everything perfect today? No. I’ll still stress-eat (sidenote: OH MY GOD. THAT HAS GOTTEN SO BAD, Y’ALL! I CAN’T EVEN.) and panic and stress-eat some more (SERIOUSLY) and wander around in a frenzy and possibly cry…but somehow, the doodle? Tends to just make it all happen to a lesser degree.
And seriously, isn’t that what we should be going for? Better…not perfection. If five minutes in the morning coloring in lines makes me stress out just a little bit less, then my mission for the day has been accomplished.
Yup. Really neat to find something creative that you can do in those in between times which reduces stress.
That being said, I’ll continue to poke & prod you to get the Headspace app. It really isn’t anything new to learn. The host (with the lovely British accent) talks you through everything, plus it has animated videos to explain the extras. All you have to do is sit down for 10 minutes and listen. ::poke:: ::prod:: =)
as a fellow zendoodler 😉 I gotta say your doodling is pretty amazing! doodling for stress relief is awesome.
All right that’s it, I keep seeing your awesome doodles and I want to do it too! Can you please tell me how to get started and how you learned to do it? In maybe a whole post, please? Also show more of your zen doodles because I think they look amazing! Also, I response to your post about the no comments, I’m delurking to tell you I read every single one of your posts on this blog.
I love the fact that you take time each morning to just relax and prepare for the day. I need to start doing that. I just wake up and go, go, go.