Weathering a shitstorm

It's been a heck of a few weeks around here. It started off when we got back from spending a week in Florida for spring break with some of our close friends and their kids. I caught a nasty cold the day before we left to come home which made for a not so great 15 hour drive home. I went straight back to work on Monday, failing to take the sick time I actually needed to recover which caused my cold to stick around for nearly two weeks.

The week after we got home from vacation Sam fell and broke her elbow. After X-rays then a CT scan, it was immediately clear to the doctor that the bone needed repaired, so they schedule surgery for the following day. She's recovering well, but it's all a lot to come back to after a relaxing vacation at the beach.

To round out March and kick off April we got hit with some pretty gnarly storms, including a tornado touching down, this past Friday which happened to be April Fool's Day. My mom, who lives about 20 minutes from here, lost power for almost 72 hours. Sometimes when it rains it really does pour, as they say.

I'm learning to accept that this is just the way life works. I like to image myself moving through life on one of those wave diagrams from math class. Time moves forward. Sometimes you're on peak and others you're down in the trough. I'm not good at science, and this metaphor is probably falling apart, but here's hoping your peaks are longer than your troughs.

Here are a few things to remember when you're in the trough weathering a shitstorm.

• Take something off your plate. It's ok to bail on a personal commitment or reschedule a meeting or two.
• Focus on one thing you can can control and move forward if you can.
• Take a nap. Naps rule and you don't need to earn them.