Relaxing is HARD!

Well, I am late with this post but let me explain...I really, really, really, typed this up like days after I did the hammock challenge.  BUT something in Blogger went terribly wrong (ok, maybe just a little bit wrong but it sounds better to say TERRIBLY so go with me on this one).  I could not get my post to publish and then it was gone...and then it was there but horribly unedited so I had to go back and redo this thing...so if there are lots of mistakes then you have to just blow past them and pretend they are not there cause I have another post to redo AND I have another post to write and I am going to try and crank them out in just a few days.  AND, let's not forget that I am the mom of 5 kids who will be home in less than and hour.  AHHHHHHHHHHHH......

 So, I actually did it.  I spent the entire day in my hammock on Relaxation Day.

It was...well...It was HARD.  For real, it was bothersome for me.

So, here is how it went:

My plan was from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM I would stay in the hammock.  The exception being that I would get up to go to the bathroom when needed.

Can I tell you, it actually takes a decent amount of planning to be able to pull off a day in the hammock.  If my kids were little again this would have taken twice as long to get ready for...and likely would not have happened. Luckily for me they are older now and can take care of most of their own needs.
So, I got it all ready.  I donned my bug spray because somehow mosquitoes seem to find me delicious.  FOR REAL...I have a bite on my eyelid from one that found me IN MY OWN BEDROOM last night.

Then I headed out to the hammock with my sleeping bag and a sheet to pull over my head so I was fully mosquito proof.  I lit my citronella candle...meant to keep away as many mosquitoes as possible but also to illuminate the area incase any critters or mischievous neighbors decided to join the party and scare the socks off me.

Admittedly, I was quite cozy and happy laying there in my hubby's hammock.  

It got down to about 40 degrees that night which I was fine with because I LOVE sleeping in the cold.  My family will attest to that.  I typically would rather not have the air conditioning on during the fall and spring except at night when I want it to be below 70 all night.  They are all asking for extra blankets and I am waking up happy and refreshed.  So, YEP...I was loving it.

I did wake up one time early in the morning because I heard something in the yard.  I laid there all zipped up in my mummy sleeping bag until I realized that if that something walking thru the yard was a creepy dude looking to steal a 40 year old woman I would be a pretty easy target all zipped up in there.  So, I unzipped quickly and sat up...  Thankfully the neighbor's dog was not at all prepared to carry me anywhere.

The next time I woke was when my son (M) delivered toast to me in my hammock 

and told me he was getting ready to head to school....LOVELY SON!!!

Ok, so here is where the introspection began for me.

The house grew quiet as the kids left and then I was there alone...left to RELAX.  I knew that was going to be hard for me but I never really realized how hard it was.  I don't relax that much other than sleeping.  Really, if I am relaxing I'm often asleep.

Just to get myself to relax all day I had to make it a challenge.  I had to bet myself I could not do something and then prove I could.  That was just the beginning.  From the moment the house grew quiet and I was left alone to relax I fought it.  I knew I would stay in the hammock all day and I had brought out a tub of things to do to keep me from being bored.

I brought out food and as I ate my food I realized that I could probably count up the calories of what I was going to eat that day and then challenge myself not to eat more than I would burn.  See what I did there...I turned relaxing into a job...a challenge.

I realized what I was doing and made myself put it out of my mind.  I decided it was time for a book so I pulled out a book I had in my tub of things to do.  I made sure it was a relaxing book and not a self help book or "how to" book so it was not adding to my to do list in any way.  I started reading and as I got into the book I realized I might be able to finish a book in a day...something I have not done since I was a kid.

Do you hear that...do you see what I did AGAIN?? 

 I tried to challenge myself to another contest. 

 I was making reading a book into a challenge.

So.......   I STOPPED!  

I continued reading but I did not let myself make it a challenge or something to do. 

 I just read.

And that is how my day went...I kept finding things to do and I would simply enjoy it for a little bit and then my brain tried to make it into something I had to do.

After the school day was over I had several visitors to my back yard.  I had made a deal with my kids and some of the neighborhood kids that if they would help me and my friends celebrate Relaxation day that I would help them celebrate National Creamsicle Day.  See what I did there....I gained myself some servants for the price of a couple of boxes of Creamsicles.  (Feel free to put me on a parenting pedestal for that one...Yes, it was BRILLIANT...it happens about once every 3.7 years that I get a brilliant parenting idea).

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with my friends who joined me in the backyard in hammocks or swings.  One of my friends brought chocolate and wine and another one sat and chatted.  Another friend called and kept me company while she herself lay in her own hammock in her yard and another still sent a photo of her in her hammock.  All these things made me so happy as I laid there (or sat there, or hung there, or stood there...YES, I STOOD in my hammock...cause laying gets old pretty quickly)

One friend spend a while in a hammock beside me and forced me to really look inside and think about what I was doing here.  While I laid there wishing to get out of the hammock and be done with this thing I was calling relaxation but was really making into a to do list, she laid there and you will never believe what she did...  SHE RELAXED.  She chatted with me and she RELAXED. She looked at the shooting stars in the sky and saw 20-30 of them.  There was an actual meteor shower going on and I was so busy being ready to be done that I missed most of it.  I saw 3...count them...THREE.  She is much better at relaxing than I am.  She said it like it was a joke but the truth is that I learned from her.  (I learn a lot from her in life)  But, for real, it's something I wish I knew how to do...REALX...just sit there and BE. I wish I could have laid there and taken it in.  There was a meteor shower happening and I wish I had embraced that.  I wish I had embraced the relaxation of the day....

Maybe if I had relized that watching a meteor shower was actually on my list of new things to do this year I would have...because that would have turned it into something TO DO.

Over and Out...