Overwhelmed

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. I think this happens to me at the beginning of every school year. There are a ton of papers coming home each night, things I need to sign, homework to do, form notes from teachers to parents, and not to mention sports, work, being a wife, keeping the house clean, faith formation, doing all the errands for the household, getting some projects done around the house, and did I mention work? Am I different than anyone else? Of course not. We all feel overwhelmed at one time or another (and another and another)!

I was whipping through the September issue of O Magazine. The very last page is Oprah's, What I Know For Sure article she writes every month. This month hit me to the core. She writes, "I AM OVERWHELMED!" Only, Oprah seems to have "twenty-uped-me" on how busy she currently is! Damn that Oprah, always one-upping me. What she wrote stuck with me.

She continued, "So I stopped. Everything. For one day I just stopped. Didn't interview anybody. Or take any phone calls. Or return any e-mails. I stopped doing in order to return to the being of myself. I pulled out my gratitude journal. ...I went to my favorite place on earth, the place where 12 oaks form a canopy on the side of my front yard. ...I let myself absorb the sacredness and dignity of the oaks. I let those trees remind me how to be: still. I took a few deep breaths. I said 'Thank you' out loud. ...And I wrote in my journal. ...Yes, there are many things that need to get done, but in this moment I have to do nothing."

Now, I can't stop being a mom for a day in order to do nothing. But I can take it easy, and stop doing many, many other things. And if I'm smart, I'll try harder to get the kids to bed a little earlier and consciously try to get some time to myself.