You Need to Rest.

Hi there, I hope your day is sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, or whatever your favorite weather is. If not, I hope you're happy for other things.

Something incredible happened on Thursday. I met one of those people. She walked into one of my favorite restaurants with pearl earrings and a white, puff vest on. And she was beautiful. Mom and I had been there for a while, but she and my uncle had just arrived, late from big city traffic. I hadn't known it yet, I still don't know quite how important she'll come to be to me, but I've come to believe that we will be good friends for a long time.

As our plates arrived, I learned about this woman. She's from South America, lived here for a few years throughout her life, has brothers scattered across the western hemisphere, and by the time that dessert came around, I discovered that she loves what I love. She is a life coach. Her first degree was in psychology, and her second, in marketing, and her Pb&j is NLP (neurological linguistic programming). From what I understand, it's taking observation of the behaviors and brain thoughts of ourselves and others in order to improve them and ourselves.

I've always loved to have dinner with the grown-ups for this reason--we're into the same stuff. Self improvement is my Pb&j too, but I'm more into intuition and the mystical, woo-woo side of it. That being apart of who I am, I took special note of my feelings about this encounter. Because this woman that I'd met, that lived on the opposite side of this hemisphere and had two kids that were both older than me, had left an impression on me. And in my woo-woo world, an impression like that is a sign. You see, that day, I'd opened up a notebook that I hadn't jotted in for some time, to find a rough sketch of a dream board I'd made in December time to prepare for the new year. Stumbling upon this spelled my lips with a soft smile, and I read those dreams I'd written in, "independence", "family time", "cute restaurants", and all sorts of bigger and smaller things that had been coming true even though I hadn't viewed this little dream catcher in months. And then I saw "a big trip" and paused. It was the one thing I didn't quite see in my future.

And as I was spending time with family in a cute restaurant, delighting in creme brulee, she invited me to come to brazil. I thought back to that dream, and simply knew. This was the trip. It would be enlightening and transfiguring.

Driving home I was on cloud nine. The feeling spent the night, made breakfast with me, and stayed for Friday I'd had big plans in line for another cloud nine that night--to dance in the kitchen with my best friend, Aunt Hev, but the day had other plans for me. It killed my car. So a friend drove me home and went on a sunny walk with Moose and I. We had a lovely chat, an uplifting one, and it propelled that lovely feeling that had followed me all night and day. I was quite sleepy after she left, and had decided to dedicate the day to some good rest, so climbed into bed, popped open my The Happiness Project by Gretchun Rubin, and read until drifting into what would be a long, dreamy nap. My dreams have been quite wild lately.

When I woke, the sun was just setting. I picked myself out of bed and migrated to the couch. My plan: wake up from nappy, set up camp in the front room, get all of my homework and then some done, stay up real late doing nothing. check. And there's a tip right there. Lesson #1: Getting things done at the beginning of the weekend is freeing. It removes the icky "I have to (fill in blank)" thoughts from your mind so that you can forget about anything that isn't lovely and enjoy the weekend. Peace.

I stayed up late as planned: watching my favorite things, eating ice cream, and simply relaxing--trying to at least. Because I'd had such a motionless day, sitting down all night felt bleh, but I also didn't want to do anything else. Normally I would have pulled myself out of a rut like that, but I knew that I needed to rest, reset, and recharge in order to come back and create, work, and grow the way I want to. Lesson #2: If rest makes you feel guilty/miserable, you've most likely had too much or too little. The guilt comes from a feeling of "I should be doing something more productive." And that comes from a place of having neglected those things for too long, or turned into a workaholic. Ask yourself which boat you're in if you find yourself having relax-remorse.

Saturday morning, I woke up at about 7, opened the blinds and smiled out the window, then fell back asleep.

At about 9, I woke up again from a really good dream, and re-lived it before opening my eyes and returning to Earth. I smiled and greeted the morning outside of my sweet little window, ate a chocolate from my chocolate box, grabbed some water, and crawled back into bed. This just in, inner me told outer me, still rest time. I moved back to the couch with my relax and eventually felt all recharged. Ready.

Moose and I made breakfast, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, brushed all of his puppy fur, and it felt good. Until I got a bit grumpy, and knew it was time to change pace. I was a bit frustrated with him for being painfully defiant and rolling in gunk every time I tried to brush him. He thought it was a game. So I took a step back and turned on my favorite podcast, the one I've listened to every episode of several times, then got in the shower. When I arrived back home from my shower vacation, I was ready to smile again, to be patient and peaceful. Moo and I went for a good walk in the warm weather, and I wore sweats and slippers. Lesson #3: Sometimes we feel bugged by our babies, pets, parents, honey. And that's very expected, inevitable at times. Sometimes the best thing to do is walk away and reset, for the good of each of you.

We came back home and I began writing this. For you. To share some things that I learned this weekend in hopes that they might be a good reminder. Lesson #4: Often we don't want Thursday magic to go away, but when it does, we've got to let Friday rest happen. And if we're grumpy about it, that's okay. As long as we let it exist as it needs to. #5: Sometimes a reset includes letting your emotions do whatever they want when you're alone, so that you get out the harsh ones without hurting anybody. #6: Everyone needs rest. We are human beings, every single one. It's not always cute, It's not always fun. But we must have it to be alive, and brownie points if you can find joy in it. #7 It's taking care of ourselves that opens the door to happiness. Love ya,

<3 ally mia