Exhaustion Sets In Part II

I thought a good night's sleep had cured me earlier in the week, but it's pretty obvious today that I'm not. I'm getting tired and achy, which is a pretty good sign that fibromyalgia is flaring up. Not entirely unexpected (since it's March), but still painful. And there are a lot of things (like packaging up the Caregiver Kits to get them to World Vision, an upcoming visit from the parents and other projects) that really need energy. Energy that I just don't have right now.

So, if I disappear for a little while, that's why. Work is demanding a lot more from me and that may take every ounce I have for a while.

My preference, sleep for a month and then re-emerge ready to take things on.

Exhaustion Sets In

Something went wrong today and I burst into tears. In Panera. In front of a bunch of people. Fantastic.

Looks like all the events of the last few weeks have worn me out more than I realized. Time to catch up on some sleep and grab some down time.

Not For the Faint of Heart

So, today was the celebration Sunday for our Caregiver Kit project. 174 kits and counting. It's a pretty big pile of boxes. And exciting when you think of the 174 (at least) people that they will help.

Pretty simple - an exciting day to celebrate the end of a project that has exceeded all my expectations, right?

Not quite so easy. The problems started with a big snowstorm on Friday and the supplies for the boxes didn't come until we were well into the storm. After we got the truck unloaded, it took 2 hours to drive what would take 20 minutes on a clear day. Then I watched and waited to see if the storm would stop before our party to assemble the kits. It did and I dug out my car for a half hour only to find that instead of starting it made a nice clicking sound.

For some reason this threw me into a complete panic that I didn't really recover from all night. Add to that some smelly soap going into the kits and a party that went until pretty late (I was exhausted) and I wasn't in good shape by the time I got home (note, car is still dead at this point).

Overnight I couldn't sleep and whenever I'd snatch a moment of sleep I'd hear nasty things. And they were nasty things that built on the nightmares I've been having for the last couple of days. And the nasty things go something like "If you don't drop this Africa project, you won't be getting any more sleep" and "if you continue with the campus stuff we're going to kill you". Evidently spiritual warfare wasn't working, so we've switched over to spiritual terrorism.

Over the last few weeks I had started having some doubts and wondering if maybe consumerism was really so bad. Wondering if the sacrifices were worth it. Wondering if I was taking things to seriously.

This is not a joke. This is not a test. This is the real deal. This is a war and any weakness will be used. Pretending you can be a half-hearted Christian is a joke. Faith as a spiritual insurance policy is a joke. All this stuff happening is more than a coincidence. I realized this morning that I have to stop letting myself get isolated and just trying to deal with it on my own. This is serious stuff and I have to treat it seriously. I had some friends pray over me this morning. The good news is, I already know I have Victory on my side.

An Inevitable Result

For the last couple of weeks I've been VERY stressed out at work. Too much to do and too much criticism of everything gets done. It's frustrating for me. Plus, it's always hard to constantly be working in "emergency" conditions.

Today we had an important event and ..... surprise, surprise .... I'm sick. Nothing too serious. A cold (though my sinuses hurt) and nausea. My body's way of saying "Enough is enough". Time to catch up on sleep and take it easy.

Hibernation

Every year I vow that this winter will be different. This year I won't drop all my hobbies after Christmas and slowly retreat to my house - not to be seen again until April. Every year it happens again. I walk past my photography equipment and sigh. I'm sure there are nice things out there to photograph, a) I'm lazy, b) it's cold out there, c) I'm lazy. This year I'm not even cooking or baking that much. Yet, none of my hobby stuff comes out.

The first big storm of the season is supposed to hit tomorrow night. I'm guessing that won't help curb my instinct to crawl under the covers and not emerge until spring!

End of a Long Week

What a week it has been. Lots of demanding work stuff. Lots of outside of work commitments. All good, but by last night I was exhausted. I was supposed to go to a women's retreat this morning. I woke up feeling wiped out and just went right back to bed. In the end I slept about 12 hours and while I'm up now, I don't feel motivated to do anything useful. I guess that's what weekends are made for.

Moving a Little Faster

Thanks to all who have been praying for my health. I got a good night's sleep last night and am feeling more myself today. Still slower than usual and in more pain, but at least I'm moving now.