Up until about a week ago I was in a total funk.
It started when the kids went back to school, and I had no idea what my problem was.
I’d run into friends who were dealing with real issues such as sick kids, a death in the family, financial strain — and I’d feel bad that I had no real reason to feel bad. I had nothing to hang my bad mood on, and I felt a little guilty about it. The weather was awesome, my kids were doing well, life was great but I felt like hell.
I finally realized what my problem was this weekend. I was suffering from a total stripping of any semblance of down time.
Even though summer is busy, there’s always time every day to relax. I get spoiled. I start needing downtime. But once the kids go back to school, life’s just crazy. I wake up by 6:30 a.m. and hit the ground running and don’t stop until 9:30 or 10 at night. I must go into downtime withdraw.
“You had too many kids,” my boss told me recently when I was wining about it all.
It’s true. But I love my kids, and I wouldn’t trade them in. So it’s all about adjusting.
This week I feel much better even though nothing has eased up. It may have even gotten a little crazier. But I’m back in the swing. I’ve shaken off that need for down time and the old me is back.
Whew. There’s nothing worse than feeling sorry for your self when life is good.
FranklyStein is a blog by Chesapeake Family Magazine editor Betsy Stein who lives in Catonsville with her husband, Chris, and four children, Maggie, 13, Lilly, 11, Adam, 11, and Jonah, 7.
