Hello there, August!

Does anyone else feel like that was the fastest July in the history of Mankind? I do. What a whirlwind. 

As I mentioned on the blog yesterday, this week has been a rough one around here. We've had one thing after another go wrong, break down, and fall apart.

Ben and I had a discussion on Tuesday night where we bonded over our mutual feeling of hanging on by a thread--feeling like we're so overextended that everything could fall apart at any minute.

Do you know that feeling? It isn't a fun one. But, as usual, I think there's something to learn from these sorts of times in our lives...


 
I know it's kind of weird to be discussing "falling apart" at the beginning of August, when most people are heading off on vacation and most businesses are slowing down, but now that we live in a "vacation spot," summer is the craziest time of the year for this household. 

And even if you don't live in a seasonal community, summer can still be crazy--whether it's because you have the kids home from school and you're trying to juggle camps and get-togethers and parties, or because you've been in and out of town, or because you've just had a baby (shout-out to all the peeps I know who have!), or because you work in a job where July and August happen to be your busy season--and it's no bueno to be so stressed inside when the sun is shining so brightly outside

No matter what the reason you've been wearing yourself thin, it can feel pretty weird to be crazy in the summer, simply because there's such a strong pull to do just the opposite--to take lazy naps in the sun, to go to the beach, to take a load off. And if you can't because life is pulling you in 20 other directions, it can be very disorienting.

Or, in the case of our household, things were busy and then sh*t hit the fan for no apparent reason except that maybe the universe is trying to tell us to SLOW DOWN. That's sometimes the reason and it's important to listen to that, too. 

Either way, here's where I'm going with all of this rambling: Lets all try to sloooooowwww things down this month. Because before we know it, it will be fall and the leaves will be changing and we will have rushed the summer away. Which would be a shame, wouldn't it?

So, lets take a load off when we should be "doing something important" this month. Lets put off that thing that we thought had to be done right away but doesn't actually have to be done right now at all. Lets devour a "beach read" book just for fun, in the middle of the day, while sipping a glass of vino. Whatever gives you a glimmer of that feeling of being "off," please do it this month, because you probably won't find the time to do it again for quite a while.  

As one of my in-laws said to me last night, when discussing feeling rushed or hurried, "Are you carrying a cooler with an organ inside? If not, there's no hurry--it's just not life or death."

And with that, lets indulge in some monthly inspiration: