Pause And Breathe • RI Family Photographer
This week I very unexpectedly ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. Both parts were unexpected. The pneumonia, which blindsided me, and the hospital part. I've never stayed in a hospital except for when I was born.
I'm out of the hospital now, although this recovery process is going to be kind of slow. I'm used to walking out the door and doing whatever I want to do with myself. That might not be an option right now...today I want to the bank and after that, I had to take a nap.
All I kept thinking was how this was the worst time ever for this to happen. I mean, I'm sure nobody ever plans to get sick. Or to spend a whole lot of downtime in a hospital room. But this just wasn't the right time. Why, I wanted to know, was this happening? There's so much going on. An event to shoot, meetings, and this is the time of year when I work on so many aspects of my business for the coming year. Oh, and I'm leaving the country in a week.
So why now?
There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home...
Well. What I've learned over the past few years is that the universe is really good at telling you what you NEED, even though it might not be what you think you want.
I've been going nonstop for what seems like forever. I know I'm far from the only one out there who feels this way about their life. Who wishes that sometime, somewhere, there was an opportunity to pause and breathe. The truth is, I had little opportunities to do so at various times but I didn't take them. Later. Later. Later.
Well, you know when later is? When the universe says hey girl, stop right there. You are going too fast and you need to LITERALLY pause and breathe.
So that's what I've been doing. You don't realize how important breathing is until it gets really hard and you have to think about it. You don't realize how important pausing and resting and taking care of yourself is until you have no choice. (Or maybe that's just me).
Take it from me. Mamas. Women. All of us who push ourselves and take care of others before ourselves. Put aside some time. Some space. To pause, to reflect, to rest. And breathe. Make it a choice.