To not falling asleep during spelling homework

A few days ago, I fell asleep at the kitchen table while going over spelling words with Kate. Chin propped in hand, eyes closed, sank into sleep, and jerked awake. All while Kate carefully wrote out “germ” and drew a little googly-eyed creature next to it. (The assignment was to draw a picture of the words.) It was 3:30 in the afternoon. I’m not proud of this, but I’m not surprised either. Sometimes when my brain hits total overload, it just shuts down. It was like my eyelids were telling my brain, “You better find some place to land because I’m coming down in three…two…one…” 

The day before, I’d spent a couple of hours in our new house with our decorator (who’s also such a nice, fun person, so major bonus) and deliberated over everything from paint colors to how to hang a glass shower door here without cracking it on this awkward corner ledge. And do we do a built-in desk here or a separate desk? Should the girls’ beds be arranged this way or that way? And wait, does that ceiling look a little bit pink to you? Then there was the backing of more boxes (we fit packing into the margins of the day), working on finding a good balance for the social media aspect of being an author, keeping Kate and Sela from bickering over the white blanket, and analyzing Sela’s eye to see if it’s red from pink eye or just because she has a cold. The next day, I spent an hour with the wonderful Jake Reiss from Alabama Booksmith talking about my book, which sent my head spinning in a million different directions (“Wait, did he just say he liked my book? I wonder if I can ask him to say it again.”), worked on the guest blog posts that are due soon, researched mattresses (what’s the deal with this Casper mattress that comes in a box and unfolds over the course of a couple days?), and kept Kate and Sela from fighting over the white blanket (see a pattern here?). 

That’s when my brain gave up the fight during the spelling of “germ.”

I’ve been overwhelmed to the point of exhaustion before–funny how our brains can be exhausted just like our bodies can after a lot of exercise–but this time, all the things swirling around are really good things. I’ve been waiting on both of these for a long time–moving into a bigger house that we get to decorate and settle into, and my book making its way into the world–so it’s all pretty darn exciting. My brain just has to take a breather now and then. Though hopefully not at the kitchen table again. 

I’m trying to do things that allow me little bits of mental break and relaxation, even though there’s not much free time these days. Most “free” time is spent packing boxes or responding to a question over email or refereeing yet another fight over that white blanket. But I’m trying to keep a book with me at all times–in the car if I’m early for pick-up, in the kitchen while I’m waiting for water to boil, etc. Reading is my go-to stress relief and it helps turn down the buzz in my brain. I’m also trying to save the the first bit of my early-morning work time for this little book called “Seeking God’s Face.” It’s a way to pray through the Bible in a year through fixed, common prayers. I don’t always fit it in as regularly as I’d like, but when I do, it calms and reorients me before I start another day. And exercise. Yesterday, I found pounding out Natalie’s 9:30 YCross was a great way to tamp down the nervous energy. And sleep. Getting in bed at 9:00? Sign me up.

The move happens two weeks from today, and the book comes out in 40 days. We have about 100 more boxes to pack (though Matt says we have about 30 empty boxes in the garage and once we fill those up, we’re not moving anything else ;), a launch party to plan, several more articles and guest posts to write, another book to polish and send to my editor, a new house to figure out, and two little girls to entertain and to hide from a lot of this chaos so they don’t get nervous or sense that things are changing as quickly as they are. And probably many other things I’m forgetting about. Whew. Hopefully we’ll all stay healthy through all this and by the time May rolls around, all will have gone…well, I was going to say smoothly, and while that’s a good goal, I’m sure there will be things that go terrifically awry, because that’s life. So I’ll say hopefully by the time we get to May, we can look back and enjoy the good parts and laugh about the crazy parts. And then move on to whatever else comes our way.