October 22: #NailedIt: How to Treat Adrenal Fatigue, A Mother's Perspective

Nailed it.

I read this article today about Adrenal Fatigue. I don't know why I continue to click on and read such articles. I must have a death-by-health-anxiety wish or something.

Apparently most people have some degree of adrenal fatigue, which is ultimately caused by stress. So to cure the fatigue, you need to deal with the stress. Here's what the article suggested:


1. Go to bed at the same time every night (preferably before 10 pm) and get 8 hours of sleep.

I probably fell asleep around midnight and my alarm went off before 7am, as usual. Maybe if I let Common Core help me with math I could somehow get that to equal 8 hours.

2. Learn to say NO when you have reached your limit. 

I say NO a million times a day, often in conjunction with "I've had ENOUGH!", thus signifying that I've indeed reached my limit. I don't find that it helps.

3. Do something relaxing every day (warm bath, walk in the park, etc.). 

Naptime. Nuff said. Check.

4. Don’t over-exercise. If you’re fatigued after your workout, you might want to scale down. 

I'd like you to introduce you to my Jillian Michaels workout DVD. We have a complicated relationship. I got it about two years ago in January when I decided I needed to start working out. It remained in a drawer with the cellophane wrapper intact for about a year. I then decided I really should start working out, so I took the wrapper off. Now another year has passed, and although I've never actually even watched the DVD, let alone exercised to it, the disc is somehow missing. Maybe my wobbly bits and I will finally start working out when I find it. Yep, I'm sure we will.

5. Eat a protein-rich breakfast before 10 am. 

Pepperoni and sausage at 10:32am. Check.

6. Consume fruit with a source of protein (nuts or nut butters). 

I heard fruit and butter. Apple crisp = consuming fruit with butter. Check.

7. Avoid alcohol, sugar, gluten and dairy (toxic and inflammatory foods).

The only way I can drink this sweet nectar of sanity is to add the aforementioned sugar and dairy, so they will have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers when I die of adrenal failure. If that's a thing. Please also refer to exhibits 5 and 6.

8. Consider supplementation (adaptogenic herbs, B vitamins).

When I cleaned off my nightstand earlier this week, I brushed a rather thick coat of dust off my bottle of vitamins. But the wine glass? Not a speck. Take that #7.

So as you can see, I'm a rockstar at dealing with stress. #NailedIt

It's a good thing I don't actually suffer from adrenal fatigue. Or do I…


*yawn*


Then again, I think everything I suffer from can be summed up in one word: MOTHERHOOD.



P.S. I bet you're totally yawning right now. It's ok. That actually means you're not a serial killer, which is a good thing. The less serial killers that read my blog, the better, you know? But have you ever considered that you might suffer from adrenal fatigue? I hear that there's a list of things you can do to better manage your stress…

October 17: You Can't Do it All

Clayton knew at the beginning of the week that he had passed his spelling pretest, and sure enough, he did!! It was the first time for him, and he was so excited. I was too!!!!!!!

Never you mind that most of the words are three letter abbreviations, y'all. IT STILL COUNTS. It still very much counts. 

#winning

And also, I was busy this evening preparing for Women's Breakfast tomorrow, so basically nothing else got done. Just in case you were thinking for some reason that I have it all together and can do all the great things wonderfully and simultaneously. That is my disaster of a house after the kids "picked up," and those are my children, playing quietly outside with a dead snake while I finished preparing my notes.

Yep. A dead snake. They were dissecting it or something. With sticks. And the neighbor girls. I'm sure their parents will let them come back soon.

What did I say when I checked outside and saw them? Make sure you wash your hands when you're done.

And then I may or may not have remembered to follow up on that. 

#motheroftheyear

#winning

October 16: One Reason That Article with 10 Tips Won't Change Your Life

I've noticed a trend of list-making in articles lately, and maybe it's that kind of catchy title that enables such frequent sharing.


5 Things You Need to Know Before ___________.

10 Signs You May Have a ______________.

7 Things I Want My Children to Know About ____________.

The 5 Habits Every ____________.

3 Quick Fixes for ____________.


Now, I'll admit that I've been tempted to jump on that bandwagon. It's nice and neat and organized to sum a topic up that way. The article is to the point and gets the point across. We love to package our lives and our problems up in that fashion, don't we? We are the self-help generation. Information junkies. We study at the school of Google Search and have our Web-MD degrees.

My guess is that most of you, especially you health professionals, hypochondriacs, and germaphobes, have read every article on Ebola that you could get your fingers on recently. And you feel better now after having consumed all that information, right? Not unlike junk food, too much information {or the wrong kind} can make us sick, and we begin showing symptoms of worry, anxiety, and fear.

Oh, how we would love it to be so simple: knowledge = enlightenment = a changed man, or woman. Assembling life in a neat little equation. If only I read that article about the 10 Reasons to Keep Your House Clean and my character was instantly transformed into that of a domestic goddess who never struggled with a messy house again.

Are those articles helpful? Sure.

Informative and full of good ideas? Yes.

Even fun to read? Of course.

But life-changing? Transformational?


NO.


Because the problem doesn't lie in our mind. It's not about our lack of knowledge or desire to do better. We do know and we want to live as we know we should, as a mother, a wife, and yet, we don't. At least not consistently. Maybe there are some skills we need to learn, but even that won't fix the problem.


Because the problem is in our heart.


It's more then just knowing. It's more then knowing and doing. It's about a change of heart. A change of character. A change deeper then the surface bandaids provided by "10 Ways to a Better You." Because those bandaids eventually lose their adhesive and start to come off. And then it's hard to cover up the fact that the real you hasn't really changed after all.

There's only One that has the power to radically change hearts and lives. And it's only when you spend time on your knees with the One True God in the One True Word that your one heart will be truly changed. 

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. {Romans 12:2 MSG}

YOU will be truly changed. Your mind transformed. Your heart redeemed and renewed from the inside out.

October 14: Oh, to be in the Autumn of Life

Sometimes I like to fancy myself a photographer. Sometimes a writer. A dreamer. An encourager.

Maybe I'm all of those things. Maybe I'm none of those things. Maybe I'm somewhere in between.

Photographer or not, I can look at those trees and say they are simply gorgeous. It doesn't take a good photographer to make them appear so--they just are. Fall is the season when many trees are at the height of glory. 

But the road to such brilliance is not an easy one to travel. After all, it begins with death. Looking like mere skeletons, the trees must endure a harsh winter. A stripping away. A falling down. A covering of snow and ice. The sheer weight of the wet cold, pressing down on them.

And yet, they survive those freezing and barren conditions. They have persevered. Stood the test of time and proven faithful. Since the old is gone, the new will come. New life. The sun shines on the new leaves, bright green with life, and the lovely, fragrant flower buds. The refreshing aroma of redemption.

The color of green deepens as the leaves mature. Did you know that autumn means, "a time of full maturity"? From the moment they first sprout out of the branches, the leaves on the tree are tirelessly working towards this goal. Preparing for it. Wind and rain, blazing sunlight, and even the first frost don't deter them. In fact, it's the frost that ultimately prompts the most drastic color change to occur.

They keep pressing forward until their glory is revealed, glory that points right back to the God who created them. Who put them in place to shine for Him, so that all the world could see and know that He is God. And there is nothing more beautiful, more inspiring, then watching one of God's creations do what they do best, what they were created to do: shine brilliantly for Him in the autumn of their life. 

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. {James 1:4}

October 13: Progress is Progress, No Matter How Small

Today I deleted 209 pictures from my phone that Eva took...this morning. 

And also, I managed to clean off and dust two surfaces in the living room that have been cluttered for a loooong time. 

Information on the exact amount of time said clutter lived on those surfaces is being withheld out of respect for the cleaning lady. I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that she's not good at her job. 

Progress is progress, no matter how small though, ay? I think Dr. Seuss said that. If not, he should have. 

And one more time, because the little square above didn't do it justice...

Happy Fall. :)