busy – traumamom4

September 3, 2022

The Part Before “Fine”

When someone asks, “How was your day?”, you probably briefly look back and choose one or two words that summarize your strongest feelings about it. “It was exciting!” or “It was exhausting” or more often, “It was fine”. While this is what we have come to expect in our everyday short-form communication with one another, what we end up doing is burying dozens of other emotions that deserve a mention, too. This got me thinking about examining just one day...

September 13, 2019

I know you are busy…

“I know you are incredibly busy, so I hesitated to even send this to you…” I read those words and lowered my eyes. Sad. My student who I have been working with for years now, concerned she would be cluttering my inbox. She simply wanted some feedback on a very short document. “I know you are super busy, so just call when you have a chance.” My own mother taking deference to my hectic schedule. “How’s your morning going? Let...

February 7, 2019

Embers

Fatigue, burnout, distress. Well-being, self-care, resilience. Tools. Prevention. Resources. Mindfulness. Yoga. Balance. This. Is. Exhausting. I’ve heard talk after talk at national meetings on burnout over the past few weeks. And months. And, well…years. And we are still talking about it. And we are still burned out. We are doing this wrong… I’m preparing my own talk on burn out. And I’m struggling to say anything new. But I promised myself I wouldn’t just say what’s been said before because...

May 10, 2018

Just Put The Boots On

Every year we meet up with friends in Memphis and go to the Beale Street Music Festival (BSMF). Both the line-up and my capacity to stay awake past midnight get a little weaker with each subsequent trip. But we keep going because we value the time with our friends and quite frankly, Memphis owns a little slice of our souls and we feel compelled to annually pilgrimage back to our adopted second home. We eat too much and sleep too little,...

April 23, 2018

Perfect…

It’s college visit time. Shiny brochures, dozens of postcards, accolades in headlines…Best School, Best Value…Top 10…Number 1. One of these beautiful schools will be The Perfect One for Jack. The best education for the money in the best location. Surely it will become clear…although, after a few visits, we are more overwhelmed than we anticipated. The gorgeous campus has the highest price tag, but the highest ranked school is so big we are afraid he’d feel lost…finding the perfect one is going to...

April 2, 2018

The Bag

Let’s talk about The Bag. The hand/purse/satchel/work/weekender/lunch/tote/gym bag. The wristlet/cross-body/shoulder/back-pack bag. I have leather and canvas; nylon and vinyl. I have bags with pockets and those without; bags with zippers and open top buckets. I have brown and navy; black, taupe and tan; pink and red. I have a bag for everyday and one for vacations. I have a bag for the beach and one for the mountains. I have a bag that holds the bags. What. Is. The. Deal?...

January 31, 2018

“I’ve Given Up”

To the mom who texted (in the Cub Scouts group chat) last night: “I’m sorry, but I’ve given up. Cub Scouts is just one more thing to do. It’s too much for me to get to. Thanks for organizing, though. Appreciate it.” I got your message in rapid fire, group text/chat format…while I was busy…at work. Just finished in the OR. I rolled my eyes and muttered to myself, Really? Can’t do it? Lame. We are all busy. And I went about my...

January 20, 2018

It’s a DONSA

It’s a DONSA. That’s military language for Day of No Scheduled Activity. Not vacation. A DONSA. Nothing on the calendar. That’s right. It’s blank. This happens, oh, I don’t know, twice a year. No soccer practice. No work. No Boy Scouts. No dinner parties or evening meetings. Just a DONSA. I got up this morning…later than usual. I did my reading and drank my coffee, as usual… and then went for a long run. With the whole day in front of...

December 29, 2017

The Space Between

It’s the awkward week between Christmas and New Year’s. The kids are home, my husband took the week off, family and friends have been in and out. Months ago, as my partner was making the call schedule, he asked each of us to list the days we wanted off. I put in my request to have this week free, knowing that several other partners would do the same, and that I probably would end up with at least one call....

December 1, 2017

Organized

I am so organized. You don’t even know…My shirts are arranged in my closet by color; each of my upcoming conferences/trips has its own manilla folder complete with checklists and a pocket for receipts; I keep duplicates of all my toiletries and make up at home and work so I am never at either place without something; I catalog my favorite recipes on Pinterest and spend sleepless nights on call choosing what to make for dinner the next night. I...