Do You Have Excessive Mind Chatter?

My excessive mind chatter woke me up at 4 this morning. If you’re a mom, I think you might know what I mean about mind chatter – thoughts of all the stuff that you didn’t get done comes creeping in during the early morning hours when you really need to be sleeping. I decided to just get up and “get at it.” This is good since I have too much to do. I’ll get an early start and I’ll get through all these millions of things I have to do.

The first thing I did was let my dog out, not knowing there was a skunk in my backyard. Then I spent the next hour dealing with my poor sweet dog who got sprayed!

I finally got on my computer around 6 am, sensing the familiar feeling of overwhelm. I took care of all the stuff that needed my immediate attention, then settled in to do the work I really needed to get done. That’s when the power went off and my computer screen went black. And I realized my laptop battery wasn’t charged. Frantically, I called the electric company and their recording said, yes, my electric is off and they would have an update later today.

So now what?

I should go to a coffee shop or somewhere I can plug in. But my laptop doesn’t have the software and tools that I need. I was pretty stressed that this day was blown and I was not going to be able to work. Then I looked outside at this beautiful fall day.

And I finally got the message.

I’ve been way out of balance trying to do too much. My mantra has been, “I don’t have enough time. I can’t take time to take care of myself because things will fall apart.” It was definitely time to surrender.

So I took myself and my traumatized dog for a glorious walk around the nearby lake. It was a beautiful, delicious walk with the lake on one side and giant redwood trees on the other. I dropped into this sacred place and began to feel good. Soon I was feeling immense gratitude for my life. Thankful that I could walk down this quiet path while my amazing Healthy Child team was taking care of things. I knew Gaye was there taking care of our precious customers in the wonderful way she always does. I knew Valerie was on the phone gently coaching a mama to help her have a better relationship with her child. And I knew I needed to be in nature more than I needed to get things done.

When you are in stress mode and worried about all you have to do – just breathe. Does it really matter whether you get it done or not? Perhaps it’s more important to take a walk in nature or just get outside and play with your kids. It’s true that the time goes fast and your kids will be grown before you know it. I DO know that.

I look back at a time 20 years ago when my daughter was two and I received a frightening wake-up call. My body gave out because I wasn’t taking care of myself.

Read my post about the Art of Self-Care for Mothers.