Sometimes I feel like I live by numbers! There's numbers I pace myself by: three daily up-times, five daily sessions of complete rest. The numbers that control my diet: three low GI meals a day, one dairy snack a day, two fish snacks a week. The numbers that govern my activities: 30 minutes in the sun every day, three exercise sessions per week, heart rate below 111 beats per minute.
These numbers keep me as healthy as I can be, but they also encase my life in a pretty rigid shell. You'd think the last thing I'd need want was more numbers! However, last year I added a new one: include at least one fun thing every week. It's made such a difference.
For the last few weeks my 'fun thing' has been learning how to marble paper. For much of last year it was figuring out how to make fair trade white chocolate. Sometimes it's simply playing a board game. A few weeks back it was a trip to our local Serbian Orthodox Church's monthly bake sale. That one was particularly special and I'm so glad we went, even though it was pretty tiring. Not only did we purchase quantities of delicious food but, when I expressed an interest, the ladies there were delighted to show me around their church and explain it all to me. By the time we left, I felt like I'd had a brief visit to Serbia! It gives me such a lift to have more variety in my life.
So, this new number has become my favourite number. Making sure I do at least one fun thing every week helps gives me a hope that life can be enjoyable, even though I'm very ill.
Arohanui,
Heather
May 2016