In this funny story of a polygamous household full of are secrets, power structures, unkind and kindness, generosity, love, and competition. Even though it was hard for me to keep some of the women apart in the beginning of the story, I really loved reading each of their back stories. They were unique and different and each strong and weak in their own way. The only character that was almost comical and maybe two-dimensional was Baba Segi himself. I could see the twist coming but I still enjoyed this unusual story from beginning to end.
This story packed in a lot. Racism, Class issues, motherhood, marriage, and more. I found myself moving in an out of connecting with the story at different times. At its core the story is about regret, going back and trying to see if a life choice can be changed and also about what we pass from generation to generation. Decisions we make and how it feels to live with them. How things we push down will eventually come back up and we will need to deal with them. There are many ways to relate to this story and it’s beautifully told.
The Best Part of this Week: The best part of this week was taking a little time to get away with my boys.
I celebrate: just feeling content at the moment.
I am grateful for: my new admin who’s helping me have lunch everyday and helping me stay more sane in general.
This week, I exercised: I did so much exercise this week! 40 mins of core exercises, 40 mins of arms exercises, 60 minutes on the bike, 20 minutes of yoga, 20 minutes of stretching, and 3 hours of hiking/walking and I went climbing!
This week, I said yes to: taking a short vacation.
I said no to: still not drawing and journaling unfortunately.
I honored my values (love, learn, peace, service, gratitude): taking a vacation is a step closer to honoring all of my values.
Top Goals Review:
Work: made it through nbu review.
Personal: did not really get back to drawing and journaling
Family: took walks with J. did one thing with N and D.
My mood this week was: a bit rushed since i only had two and a half working days.
I am proud of: taking time off when it’s so hard for me to do so.
I release: that i didn’t get all my exercise done this week.
Here’s what I learned this week: i really need to remember to spend my energy and time on what matters most.
I find that my brain is constantly jumping back and forth between thoughts.
There are contradictory thoughts and dormant thoughts that pop up like popcorn at random times especially if I’m on vacation of some sort and thus relaxing. why aren’t you doing this? why don’t you want to do more of that? You really should be doing this other thing.
My brain tells me what to do and it reprimands me about all the things I’m not doing. It’s constantly striving constantly optimizing and constantly judging.
This is one of the reasons I am trying to meditate more and rest more so that I can learn to quiet my own brain. So I can let those thoughts rise and then disappear. This is the only way they don’t take up all the space.
Taking a bath is another way I can slow down and pay attention to the voices and tell them everything is going to be okay.
We came home from our trip today and all I could think about was how I wanted to go climbing.
usually when we’re back from a trip like this all I want to do is rest and be alone. But now we have our Sunday routine and I really miss the climbing when we don’t do it.
So I told my introvert itself to be quiet, took a little nap and then a shower and went back out to do some climbing.
Of course it was worth it because it’s worth it every single time. And now I’m resting in a bath, grateful for this day.
There’s always magic in going out and doing the thing.
I love routine and for the most part I think that’s a really good thing. Routine allows me to create an intentional life and spend time on what matters most to me and what I want to improve. Routine makes it easy to show up and easy to get things done.
And yet it also makes it easy to get stuck in a rut. Doing the same things again and again doesn’t give me the time to take a step back and evaluate.
This is where a change of scenery helps the most. A new place, a change in routine, a new perspective.
For someone who loves being home as much as I do, it can be really hard to go on vacation. And yet time away is always helpful.
Every single time.
Yes to taking time away. Yes to rest. Yes to the woods.
Wednesdays are tough over here. I start 8am and don’t end until 8pm, at which point I am wiped and can’t even think.
So I start my days with meditation and yoga to ensure I am calmer than usual and grounded.
And I think I need something to also end my days with so I can re-ground myself again so I don’t carry over Wednesday’s stress to Thursday. Maybe that’s a short walk outside or a short journaling session.
Either way, today I’m grateful to have made it through this Wednesday and grateful that this week is almost at an end. It was a short but mighty week so far.
Yes to yoga and yes to grounding. Yes to making in through Wednesdays!
