Today I awoke with one main objective: Recover. No, not from the flu or a nasty shock or an injury, but from people. Perhaps some of you don't know this, but I'm what I like to refer to as a "high-functioning introvert," which means that I--generally--don't hide in the corner during parties and--generally--love having people over at my house and--generally--can keep up an animated phone conversation, but all of those things expend energy that isn't recharged until I get some alone-time. The more people-energy I use up, the more recharging I need.
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| Like this. |
Yesterday I made a big mistake and skipped my normal two-hour siesta (my daily prescription of being alone in my bedroom with the door closed, during which I read some Scripture and then sleep). I've skipped my naptime before without my Introvert Meter reaching critical lows, but the combination of 4 hours of office work Wednesday morning, followed by 2 hours of rowdy kid music classes, followed by co-leading a worship service, followed by a choir rehearsal; and then on Thursday driving five goofy kids 20 minutes to school, followed by grocery shopping (yes, being in a grocery store uses up people-energy, especially if one of my kids is with me), followed by a visit to a children's museum with a friend and her son--great hang-out time, but still depleting the Meter--, followed by helping both boys in woodshop at school, followed by driving goofy kids back from school, followed by making some work-related phone calls, followed by making dinner, followed by doing homework with the kids...!!!
I drove away from the house yesterday evening for my 7 p.m. Al-Anon meeting, but when I got there, I parked my car and sat staring out the windshield for about 5 minutes. Each time I pictured getting out of the car and joining my friends in the meeting, I felt like throwing up.
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| I think even this kind of meeting would have been too much for me! |
It was at that point I realized I was running on empty, and I drove straight back home, put on my pjs, closed the bedroom door, and sat in bed under the covers. All I could do was stare at the wall.
By 8:00, I was asleep.
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| I'm gonna give myself credit and say that I look a bit chippier when I have a full tank than this fellow does, but I'm pretty sure Jay would attest that last night my expression looked exactly like the one on the right. |
Going to sleep early saved me from self-destruction, but it didn't restore my Meter to "full," so when I woke up this morning I set some parameters for myself: 1) Take a nap this afternoon. 2) In the evening, put on pajamas at the earliest possible moment. 3) Don't hang out with anybody anywhere tonight.
Which is why I'm sitting in a quiet house. By myself. The only noises I hear are the kitchen clock ticking, rain pattering on the skylight, and the soft hums of my laptop fan and distant traffic. Bliss. (Quick word to explain why I'm the only one home...the kids are with Mr. and Mrs. FIL tonight, and Jay--who is not an introvert--is hanging out with buddies.)
Slowly but surely, I'm recovering my sanity, which is just in time! Tomorrow is Baby K's 2nd birthday party, followed on Sunday by leading a worship service, followed by a Bible study, followed by a group dinner/Olympics viewing at a friend's house. Followed by work on Monday...
But no need to think about all of that! I'm doing what I need to do to recover today--which, by the way, is something I've been learning in Al-Anon. :-)
P.S. Shout-out to Mrs. FIL for taking me to a lovely early-Valentine's day lunch today! She picked a quiet restaurant with delicious food and we had some great girl time. The perfect way to get me loosened up and relaxed before my nap. Thank you!!
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