Day 9 – Change

I post up here on the West Coast… Which means there are still 5 minutes of day 9 left… Boy have I been cutting it close this week, but, hey, it’s a busy life I lead.

On Tuesday, I was so tired, I didn’t want to think about the Tuesday @ 10 prompt, it was just too much for me…

CHANGE…

Ever since I started grad school, it seems as if at the beginning of each quarter, there are more and more changes, not just in my school program, but in life.

For instance, this past week and a half:

• I started the new quarter of classes (which I only have 1 of continuously this quarter)… And, for the first time in 3 quarters, I feel like I can be completely at ease in the academic area of life…
  [there went the 12:00 change…I guess I’m officially in day 10 #fail…]
• I put in for a promotion to another club, and then had 2 interviews (still waiting on word)…Then, after, I am now torn as to whether or not this is the promotion I really want, and torn between a love for my current location & coworkers & families…
• The ^ location I am currently in just got a new Service Manager, so I’m once again learning how to work with new management (which, history would tell me is the easiest change happening now…)
• The school I was set to begin my Practicum hours in pulled the contract, and I was assigned a new school, one where it is likely I will not make the kind of hours I need to graduate…so, now we are amidst a change there, either an additional school/placement or a different location all together (I wish this stuff could work out more smoothly for me, but this is par for the course of my grad school experience…)
• I have added/continued work with new clients in my practicum, while adjusting to the new schedule of this quarter

But, another change that has begun, being back working at the gym for a few weeks now: I’ve begun to put that free membership to good use… Slow, but steady.

You see, all of the above are pretty big things to me, and for them all to happen at once: I’m feeling overwhelmed & spread thin, unsure of what’s around the next quarter.

And, even though I wrote recently (a couple months now?!), about Enoughness & the Proverbs 31 woman, I still haven’t been taking care of myself (a pattern in my life). And in my field(s), self care is absolutely essential, so why am I not getting it?!

You see, in reading about the Proverbs 31 woman, I learned something about her: she takes care of herself. She does what she needs to do to take care of her own body/mind/wellbeing, so that she can be the amazing, virtuous woman of scripture. (And, though it isn’t written, I doubt she takes on the world alone. I mean, after all, that’s why God created ‘ezar. But, that’s a story for another post).

But, overall, I have still neglected to take care of myself. I have paid very little attention to the activities that keep me centered, that keep me grounded. I haven’t considered the ramifications of the food that enters, nor the fact that I am not doing anything to offset those foods (calories in – calories stay…where’s the out?). I have forgotten how good exercise really makes me feel, especially on stressful/bad days.

And, as the Beloved, we are to take care of ourselves. Our bodies/souls/minds/heart/matter (everything about us) were crafted by God. Not only did He craft us, but He bought us, paid the price of Himself for us. We ourselves are gifts from Him to be taken care of. And in doing so, we are able to care for others more fully.

So, two other changes have been in play the last week and a half that I’m hoping will center me no matter the results of the other major changes:

• I am exercising: making the most of that gym membership, making myself smaller, faster, stronger, healthier
• I am taking part in this 31 day challenge: to blog every day. And to dig into what it really is to be the beloved.

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20