"To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear." ~Buddha
Wow, I haven't written in a while. But work started again, and...well, I'm not drinking caffeine so...um, I was
really tired. Valid? I think so.
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| Bunny and my brain, both pretty mangled after the wreck. |
They say, "no pain, no gain" and gawl-dang-it...whoever "they" are, they are right! Since being back to work full time as an elementary school teacher, I have had intense, pounding, screaming, crashing, bashing, just plain mean headaches inhabit my brain space every day for about 4-5 hours. I've also experienced the infamous "fog" that caffeine-quitters have told me about. Yeah...it's almost equivalent to how I felt after I totaled my favorite car, Bunny, and I had staples all up in my head and my brain was swollen so much in the area that controls speech that I couldn't work my drive-through job or have a coherent five minute conversation for months. (Ask me to see the scars...I'll show ya!) Yeah...my caffeine withdrawal is kinda like that. Gah!
Well, enough bitching about the "pain", here's some "gain".
One, I realize that I used to "gray-out" when I slept. I'd sort of drift off, easily awoken by a noise, a sore muscle, a vivid dream or for no reason at all. My sleep has shifted into this "black-out" kind of experience. I wake up far, far, far less than I used to...some nights, not even at all. Holy shamoley. Two, my skin has cleared up to the point that people have commented on it. Three, I
finally got my handstand pushups, which may or may not have anything to do with my "clean" 18 days, but I am stoked! Four, a
WOD (Workout Of the Day) or some
Hot Dogs and Cupcakes clears that blinding pain right outta my head. Thank you diet and exercise. Five, I felt that
Colorado earthquake Monday night while I was watching Bachelor Pad...totally unrelated but too effing cool to leave out of any list. Six, I am amazed and so encouraged by my community of friends and loved ones. Thank you for asking me how things are going and keeping me accountable! Thank you for keeping me in the loop on your own challenges! It is so energizing and, for me, crucial on the path towards our goals.
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| Classrooms that look this good take time, my friends! |
Here's something I didn't expect. I always preach about being prepared when it comes to improving diet. I didn't even realize it till this week, but giving up caffeine is
forcing me to be better prepared in real life and to kick some of my procrastinating habits to the curb. Six out of my seven years teaching, I have savored every moment of summer, flat out refusing to give up my free time and go in before my contract time begins. Well, this results in 12-14 hour work days the week before kids come back. Nooooot healthy. Needless to say, I couldn't do that this year without my ex-BFF, caffeine. So...I gave up three days of summer last week and unpacked and put together my classroom. Since I worked 25 hours last week that I usually cram into the evenings this week, my days this week are all about planning and meetings and leaving at four o'clock every day!
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| I spy a Jesus and an ex-BFF. |
Those of you who have witnessed my serial quick descents into despair and exhaustion in the first few weeks of school will attest that this is a
straight up miracle! Thank you,
Jeebus. And thank you, clean life. Who knew that getting rid of a few crutches would have a domino effect on LIFE?!?
P.S. I have tried nearly all the suggestions given to me to aid my waking up process and they have worked wonders! I especially rely on rockin' tunage in the morning and a couple sips of sparkling water to get me moving. Thanks!
3 comments:
nasty wreck! on the flipside, you look great in the pic with your students. keep up the bloggin'
yup, that one was a doozy! thanks for reading =)
When I clicked into the Older Posts since I am interested in the things you want to express in writing as a measure of understanding much better who you are as a person... I see you had a dramatic debilitating car accident. It's passed you but it would have been very helpful (for some unknown reason) for me to have known about this. We tend to want to compare battle scars in life. Or tattoo's for that matter (I presently don't have any)
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But Tiffany I also experienced a car accident and I totaled two cars. I passed out behind with wheel with low blood sugar after driving home from having a molar pulled under sedation and with nothing in my gut for 15 hrs. My lovely jet black Jetta Wolfsburg Edition with the motorized moon roof, the stick shift, powerful responsive engine, mag wheels, extra nice sound system etc..yes all material things gone. I can not understate the significance of the trauma and the lonesomeness that followed. No head injuries but I cracked my chest, neck and hand injuries from the airbags. Of course I was wearing my seat belt...and I thought I'd never be able to lay down again. If I laid down, I could not breathe since the broken bones where pushing on my lungs.
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The following weeks of recovery when... if you where to sneeze in church the whole town would know about it. Well this is the spiritual side of recovery or the lack of it. The vote is out. I sat packed with pillows in that Adirondack chair in the living room for a few weeks. Long enough for all my church friends to know. The phone didn't ring (it still doesn't) now. No one from church called or came to the doors or brought a single shred of comfort food. Not a mac'ncheese tuna casserole, not a plate of Toll House cookies... I was devastated. It hurt far worse than the accident injury. A few months before I was at the pulpit on Christmas Eve reading passages on saviors birth. Nope. No one was getting it. No one came or inquired. No one. No reciprocity in any manner at all. Not the thing I was used to being a hospitable man to which you are now aware of.
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The loss of my car put me in a tailspin. I became poor for a while. I drove in a banged up Pontiac soccer moms van. That caught fire. Then I drove around in an very old model Chev Impala I bought for $800. It was a bad scene. I left the church of course.
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I must not be 100% I may never be. What I admire about you in your writing is that you are not looking for any sympathy. That you are brave and know how to move forward and this is the lesson I am getting from your blog. I don't do blogs nor do I follow a single one. I'm here for one reason. This is an above board apparatus for expression. Very caring and with integrity. Since I'll be able to respond quicker that new stories can get generated on these pages... not to worry...these are finite visits.
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Somehow this helped me to let you know this and this is probably a form of reaching.
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