Rough Spring

I have been wanting to post this for awhile but wanted to make sure I knew what I wanted to share. This spring has been rough for me. I usually love to be outdoors and feel so refreshed in the spring. This spring, I struggled. I haven’t felt really good and wasn’t sure why. All I knew is that I was drained. I felt like I had nothing left to give. I was tired all the time, had no motivation to do anything. I had no patience with the kids and just felt annoyed all the time that they needed my attention. Then I felt guilty about feeling this way so that depressed me and made me want to just hide in my room. It was a terrible cycle and I just wanted to cry a lot. After about a week of doing nothing but lying on the couch and crying, I knew I needed to do something. I was miserable and too many people are dependent on me to let myself go down this road. I scheduled my first-ever counseling appointment. I believe God directed me to this Christian counselor. It felt so good to just sit there and vent. She was so understanding and helped me to not feel guilty about the things I had been feeling and thinking. She also reinforced what I had already been thinking that there are probably some health and hormonal issues that are playing into this and I need to get my body feeling better so I have the strength to deal with everything else. She asked if I would be interested in a holistic approach to dealing with it. I was so excited that she would even suggest this! I definitely prefer natural remedies and although I think pills are sometimes necessary, I am not interested in them right now. Just talking with her gave me the extra kick to do all the things I KNEW I needed to do to get my strength back- prioritize my devotional life, take my vitamins, get back to my exercise schedule, continue to eat better ( I had been slacking) and go on a date with my husband! That was about a month ago. I am already feeling better. I still have days I am just wiped out or discouraged for no apparent reason, but those are much fewer than before. I was anxious about the kids being with me 24/7 for the summer but so far we have had a good time. We are on a routine with chores, summer school work (which for some reason the kids LOVE), quiet time (essential!) and then the fun stuff of parks, pool and playing outside. The kids really are doing great and I am so thankful for every one of them.