Daisypoet..the words behind the life: Spring Break

I want to start off saying that for me personally, this was the BEST spring break ever!
We did not go anywhere out of state, or to some incredible water park. Nope, we stayed in the GR area the whole week. So what, you may ask, made it so great?
My attitude. :)

I have struggled with depression, seasonal, post-partum, whatever, for years. I had a lot of anxiety, stress, unhappiness, built up inside of me. But I have been working on myself for months, and this week I feel I conquered those things that were holding me back.

As much as I love my tiny (not so tiny) brood of children we have created, they were a source of my most intense stress and anxiety. I could not be with them for 24 hours, multiple days in a row without flipping out. And I mean FLIPPING OUT. I would use words not meant for children's ears, or I would not go anywhere for fear of how they would behave or worse yet, how I would react to their behavior. This week, was a complete difference and I LOVED IT!

We started by going to the movies to see Sing. Now, there were a lot of factors that led up to even getting us to the movie theater that day. Jonathan had driving practice, I forgot we had a meeting at 5 pm, had to run home to get driver's ed books, so that meant late to movie. They didn't have 6 seats next to each other, normally I would say nope, change of plans. Instead I rolled with it, and made it work for us! And it was GREAT! Made it to meeting, quick fast food stop after (traffic could have made us late, we found alternate route), made it in time to Jonathan's driver's ed class.
That was just Monday!

Tuesday, we cleaned house, went to the library with the littles, made brownies (with some essential oil flavor boost) and just enjoyed our calm day. Wednesday we chilled out in the morning, relaxed and stayed in jammies for a bit. Then went to the mall!! Yup, I took 5 kiddos to the mall, for no reason at all! Well, other than the oldest was meeting some friends, and since weather wasn't the greatest, we stuck around. Not everyone wanted to, but we made the best of it. Now, there were things that happened here that would have in the past would have sent me over the edge and running for the hills (after many more curse words left my mouth). I will spare you the play by play here with this. Instead, I rolled with them! I made jokes with the kids about them! We enjoyed our day, none the less. :) It was amazing.

Thursday was spent with appointments for Willow. She had an MRI and a follow up from surgery with the neurosurgeon. I had all five kiddos with me because Jonathan had driving practice again right before. So, we ate lunch out and made it to the appointment in time. Then thankfully, we were able to be seen right after the MRI at neurosurgery, which got us home a little bit earlier. We were treated by a visit from a dear friend whom we hadn't been able to chat with in a while, and then dinner and driver's ed again. We ended this night with a trip to our favorite ice cream store - Frosty Boy!! (This may or may not have been our second time there since break started).

Then Friday, the official last day of break, because well you always get a weekend off, so the kids don't count it. LOL We spent Friday..... ROLLERSKATING! I even put skates on and had a blast! I want to go more often with the kiddos. :) The best part, was that one; I did not fall down once while I had skates on! Yeah me!! The second thing, I freaked my kids out! Evan saw me doing circles on skates, and said it was 'witchcraft!' because he could not figure out how I was doing this. People, please, I am a child of the '80's we spent our days on wheels!! LOL Well, I did anyway. :)
I had as much fun as the kids did there.

So, every day this week I did something that in the past would have pushed my anxiety through the roof, my stress levels, my fondness for my kids would have been right out the window. So, how did I get through the week? A lot of prayers, self development in the past year, and essential oils. I made sure every day, I started the day giving my worries to God, giving my need to be in control over to Him, and asking Him to guide my day. I made sure that while I was drinking my coffee, I put on my favorite oils (patchouli and spearmint), and then Clary Calm on my ankles. :) I also did something that I don't ever do. I have this little card on my desk, and it says, "Put down your shield and stand in the rain of blessings". I did THAT this week. I am forever greatful for this week with my kids. They may not see it as the best spring break ever because we didn't officially DO anything (go on vacation); but for me, it was a HUGE win. I am forever thankful for.