Well, I survived my first back to back shifts at the hospital Friday and Saturday. Whooped doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling after getting home on Saturday evening. Friday had been a crazy busy day with admissions and discharges up the wazoo. Saturday had me worried but it actually wasn’t horrible. We had a great group working that day and the weekends usually manage to be a little quieter. With six or so discharges, I certainly got my exercise going back and forth from the unit and down to the hospital entry way to bring patients to their rides.

As terrified as I was for the possible pain and discomfort that I may find myself in, I discovered something; anything you put your mind to is potential. Rather than psych myself out, especially after Friday’s chaos, I continued to tell myself that I would get through it with a smile on my face, love in my heart and strength in my bones. Low and behold, here I am. Smile, love, strength and all.

Both Friday and Saturday evenings I also surprised myself by, yet again, saying “no” to benefit myself. Rather than go out and spend money and stay out late on Friday, I came home, made dinner and rested quietly until sleep found me. Saturday, same thing, I did grab a bite to eat with some friends but then honored my body, which was exhausted, and went home and watched a movie. That made for a magnificent day yesterday 🙂

Saying ‘No’ has never felt so amazing and in addition to that satisfaction, I was also able to enjoy some much needed quiet time. We are often afraid of quiet, because its emptiness feels idle, boring, unproductive, and scary. And so we feel the need to fill our lives with chaos, noise and clutter. All. The. Time. If you look closely, silence can be lovely, powerful and even therapeutic. It can be the remedy for our stress and life altering habits.

Find your quiet time. Even if it’s just 5 minutes every day. Do it.

Love.