tournament life
This weekend was a little exhausting. Our oldest son had a baseball tournament about an hour’s distance from our house. A tournament is when teams play consistently until just one team wins.
Read: It’s a lot of baseball.
We get up early to prepare and pack. Coolers filled with drinks and snacks and lunches are made, uniforms are cleaned, and all five of us prepare the pack into a vehicle for the day.
Each game can take around two hours. We also bake in a little extra time for practice before the games, and rest and food time in between the games.
On Saturday, our family of five found themselves on a field from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Add: wind, temps in the 50s and 60s, and the brain power of concentration, and you might be tired.
I must admit, I was exhausted.
Tournaments can last 2-3 days, depending on how the kiddos play.
when i’m tired
Even when I’m tired, it’s usually hard to slow down and rest. With three kids in the house, dishes, laundry, basic pickup around the house, and cooking never take a rest.
And when I’m tired, I want to lay down, but I almost never want to actually take a nap. What has become a norm, instead, (and completely stupidly, I might add) is sitting on the couch to scroll.
Or shop.
Or scroll and shop.
In a vicious cycle for way too much time.
the challenge helps!
This weekend, I’ve been so pooped, but I forced myself to rest. I put my phone on silent. I place it at the other end of the room, where I won’t reach for it.
And I rest.
This means I’m not shopping. I’m not buying. I’m not consuming any of the crap out there. But I remain restless. It’s hard to get away from that itch. There is a tickle in my body, calling for something. My brain and body know that I need something, but it’s not always easy to know what.
Could it be dopamine?
This weekend, I told myself I needed rest. And I told myself to avoid my typical response of reaching for the phone.
cringing at myself
It’s embarrassing to write that. I’m nearly 40 years old, and in the few years since smart phones have become more ingrained in our society, I feel the pull, just like everyone else. It’s easy to say, “I need that quick hit of dopamine. I want to see images that don’t make me think about how tired or stressed I am.”
And there is some positive in that, right? It’s fun to look at comedy clips from Sarah Silverman or Nate Borgatze and just forget about the world. But thanks to the nature of Instagram, I inevitably end up seeing images, products, clothes, and things to buy. Shopping and scrolling have had that response on my body.
Now I know.
Now I behave differently.
But how?
This weekend, behaving better means taking the naps. But I need more tools in my toolkit. Other days, I’ll find time to jot down notes in a journal. I’ll take time to breathe deeply and repeat a mantra, like, “I am here, I am present.”
It has not been easy resetting. But I’m coming around to the idea. Nearly 30 days has taught me this much. What is this challenge teaching you? Share your thoughts! Drop a comment and let me know how this challenge is going!
As always, friends, namaste every day!
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4 the Love of Peace 