Take a Walk and Don't Think, Do!

My daughter spoke to me about a friend she wanted to help. I shared some things with her that she typed out to send to her friend.
Then I thought of you.
There may come a time in your life when it is not all going like daffodils and roses and this advice might be useful.
So
1. tuck it away somewhere where you can find it when the need arises and
2. make a mental not to self to extract and apply it when that time comes.
“You deserve what your hubby says about you babe. You really are super special!
So I have a couple of stories for you…..
Story 1: When my mum lost her first baby at 8 month pregnant her cousin gave her a card that read “Always remember in life it’s not what happens to us, but what we do in response that makes the difference.”
Shit happens, you my lovely seem to have been dealt a heap of shit. What I would like to do is help build you up so you’re better able to handle that shit. Arrows and swords can be fatal – until you have a shield! Let’s build up your shield my lovely!
This leads me to story 2: A few years ago my dad went through male menopause. He spent years on 4-5hrs sleep a night (if that) and got to the point some afternoons where he would start to think really dark thoughts. Being a health researcher he knew this was a direct result of lack of food or lack of sleep.
Ever noticed that no good thoughts ever come when you are in a bad mental state? No good decisions, ideas, plans etc.
So he got into the habit of asking himself “1. Am I hungry? and 2. How much sleep did I get last night?”
If he was hungry he would eat something nutritious and if he was tired he would say to himself “Don’t think, just do!”
I really like this one because as a mum with little ones you can’t exactly go “Oh I haven’t had enough sleep, I’ll just go take a nap!”
Knowing that you are not going to be making the best decisions for the rest of that day… don’t think! Finish everything you can that is unfinished. Tidy up messes. Produce as much as you can. Production is the basis of morale, the more things you do the better you feel!
The other step is, when you are tired or hungry it is very easy for someone to introvert “Look in as opposed to looking out”. The best way to extrovert is to go for a nice long walk. It’s VERY therapeutic! Take your boys and look at the houses, look at the flowers in the gardens, the tallest building, the furtherest away cloud, the littlest bug on a tree. I think your boys would totally love it too. You can point things out to each other!
You are not only doing this for you babe, but as the mother of the family AND the little one inside you.
So your target, my beautiful friend, is to make sure you have as much sleep as you can tonight and are well fed tomorrow, then take a nice long walk at some point tomorrow either with your boys or without and tell me you’ve done it!”