Thursday, February 16, 2017

Reflection

The last few weeks have been difficult but I've also been reflecting a lot and I feel that working through those feelings has helped me in some regard.
This was supposed to be a quick underway, but it feels so long.  I don't know if that's because of the winter, dark mornings and nights, lack of sunlight, snowstorm in which we lost power for two days, incessant rain and wind that followed or what.
I just know that every time Ahron leaves, I go into flight or fight mode.  And most of the time I've been flying...avoiding is the easy choice because I don't have to go into that stressful state.  Whether it's parenting, schoolwork, seeing friends, exercise, I've just lost so much motivation.  But the only thing that is going to control my stress levels is exercise.  Exercise is something I typically enjoy but even my depression has taken that away and I'm fighting to keep it at the forefront.  I also feel really discouraged by last year's weight gain.  I have decided that it is a good time in my life to seek therapy or a counselor.  I believe this is the first step in being proactive in taking care of my mental health.  It remains to be seen whether I will start meds or not but I have to do this in order to be a whole, healthy person.  So for right now, it's nice to have hope again.  I simply can't rely on my husband anymore to be whole and happy.  I have to accept that he will not be home for the majority of the year.
All that being said, yesterday I felt like a really bad mom.  Elaine put off her science fair and so I spent the majority of the day/evening helping her piece it together.  This was a big lesson in time management for her (nevermind the whole being annoyed!)  At 8:15 pm, Miles started crying because he wanted to participate in the science fair too.  Now every year we say we are going to do it, but he never brings home the stinking paperwork!  And I wasn't organized so we both dropped the ball on it.  He felt very left out and I felt bad.  He was disappointed and I can't always prevent that.  Maybe experiencing disappointment is a good thing.  We just can't make our children happy all of the time.  Still, after they all went to bed and the house was quiet I just lost it and cried and cried myself to asleep.
Today has been a much better day and I did remind him that I spend plenty of time doing puzzles with just him.
I keep moving forward.