For the Soul

One of my friends told me before I left for California that it was good for the soul; she was exactly right.  I'm not sure if it was the combination of being worn out from school and work lately or if was that neither Scott nor myself had seen much sunlight in the past few months, but something about all of that mixed in with the California sun came together to heal me over the past week.  Somewhere between gazing at the seals in La Jolla Cove and walking six miles to the Golden Gate Bridge on a fall-like day in San Francisco, I started feeling myself get pieced back together into the nice, whole person that I used to be before too many night shifts and too little sleep from schoolwork ruined me.

I flew back into Indy tonight feeling like a different me.  I watched fireworks over the city as we landed and I was happy to be back in my home.  It's weird that I call Indy home, but it sparks all of those prickly warm feelings that home always brings, and when I stepped into my apartment tonight, it looked and smelled and felt just like home always does.  I'm ready for the changes that are coming over the next few weeks and months.  Wedding season began with the wedding we just went to in LA, so we'll be doing quite a bit of traveling in the coming months to North Carolina and Alabama and even some new places in Indiana to celebrate with people we love.  I'm two weeks (and six night shifts!) away from switching to day shift, and one month away from starting my master's program to become a nurse practitioner.  I survived (and thrived in?) my summer school class and managed to squeeze out an A between long days in the library and long nights taking care of patients.

And I'm just feeling oh so very thankful.  It's really amazing how a few days away from the status quo, from the mundane activities of the day-to-day, can completely change your perspective and give you new energy to pursue your passions and live the life in front of you.  It's nice to step away from your life for just a little while and then to step back into it to see how beautiful it actually is.  And I realize that it's not possible for everyone to take weeks off of work for retreats like this, and I realize that it's really rude for me to not acknowledge that, so what I say to you is this: make time for sunrises and sunsets, and for candles and hot tea and good books.  Take nights to grill out with your family or run with your significant other or get coffee with a good friend.  Take a nap or go to bed early or go on a bike ride near your home.  Do something for you, something that heals and transforms you, something for your soul.  Something that makes you smile or laugh or cry, something that challenges you and makes you happy to be alive.  Those are the best things.  I need more of those things, and I don't doubt that you do, too.

On that note, I'm going to try to go force sleep on myself.  I'm still on Cali time and therefore my body is really confused about making it try to sleep at 9:30 (read: 12:30 EST).

Lots of love,
Cristina