Have you ever felt like everything around you was going badly?  Like every time you turned around there was some new problem or new horrible thing presenting itself?  That’s sort of how I’ve been feeling lately, like all around me things were burning, smoke billowing up and surrounding me.  

I’m grateful to say that although I still have a lot going on, I seem to be coming back up out of that valley.  But while I was in it I fell back into old habits of turning to food in times of stress.  I seem to just crave sugar and carbs, and in the moment, that’s all I want!  It’s hard when all you want to do is to take care of yourself and get healthy, but you are so stressed that you keep turning back to old ways of coping.  I have gained back a bit on the scale.  I don’t want to let it get too far though, I want to get ahold of things before the holidays so I don’t go even further off the rails.  

It’s interesting what God has used to help bring me out of this rough season I was in.  I had so many things going on in my personal life in addition to work being crazy.  But what I think has been a big part of my recovery has been the overwhelming explosion of new youth attending the middle school youth group that I volunteer with each week.  Several weeks ago our numbers exploded to more than twice our normal number of students.  I don’t think we’ve been able to figure out where all the kids have come from all of a sudden but it’s been awesome to watch God at work, bringing all these new kids to us.  The first week this happened we had 15 kids come forward to accept the Lord and the following week a few more!  It’s been incredibly challenging to manage all these kids, and there are some very troubled kids in the mix, but somehow it has reinvigorated me.  It has reminded me of the role of service.  Not only does God ask us to do acts of service to help others, but it helps us as well, which is easy to forget.  It takes us outside of ourselves and whatever problems we are facing and gives us a focus on something else, something with eternal implications.  I’ve had some other ideas as a result of this that I’m praying about, exciting things lie ahead!

Another part of what I’ve done to try to come out of this low spot is to look more at what I can do for me, things I enjoy, to have fun and take my mind off things.  One of those things recently was a puppy yoga class!  Oh my goodness what fun, and just what I needed as a stress relief!  I mean look at this guy!  Relaxing yoga while 5 puppies run around and lick your toes LOL!  It also served to show me that my hip really isn’t ready for yoga just yet, but since this class was so relaxed I was able to do things at my own tolerance.  

I also set out a new routine for myself for my workouts, with the help of a friend.  They lost some of the lifeguards at the Y, so the pool hours have been effected, namely the early morning hours.  So now I have designated Monday, Wednesday and Friday as my swim days, Tuesday and Thursday as lifting days with particular muscle groups assigned to each day.  

Another new development is an addition to my little family, this energetic guy, Jack!  I had to put down one of my cats a couple of months ago, and finally decided to give a home to another rescue.  He is finally integrated into the house with my other cat Maddie.  He is little and hilarious and makes me laugh every day!  

So I guess my lesson here, and hopefully a help to you, is that there are many ways to feed yourself: service to God and others, spending time the the Lord, paying attention to your own needs including what you enjoy, rest, as well as healthy eating and moving your body.  It can be a complicated balance sometimes!  But being in community like this is a great way to find healthy support!