Day 29: Take a nap...

Challenge Day 29: Take a nap...a real nap. No TV or book allowed.


I was overjoyed when I selected and read this challenge. BEST challenge ever! I would not have felt that way a few months ago. I'm a busy brain and have a life history of difficulty sleeping. As a kid, nap time was like extreme punishment. There is just so much to do and life to live - can't be wasting it sleeping. This challenge has helped me find a more tranquil state of mind. If not for that, it's doubtful I'd have been able to fall asleep and take a nap in the middle of the day. But I did.

I usually read to fall asleep. There's nothing like being absorbed into a story to free my mind of distracting thoughts. With no book, how would I get my mind clear enough? Oh wait, I've got a great idea. I ate my lunch so I'd have a full stomach. Then,(don't tell my boss, ok?), I went to the Stone store and got a beer taster to make myself super relaxed. So I went back to work and parked in the shade. Today was a perfect day, too. Chilly air but gorgeous, warm sunshine. The temperature in the car was perfect. I cracked the windows, reclined the seat back, took off my shoes, and laid back. Before I knew it I was in the middle of a dream. Then the sound of voices woke me up. I was completely disoriented, so I knew it was a good deep sleep. It wasn't long, maybe 20-30 minutes of the perfect power nap.

Besides being more relaxed, participating in, or rather living, this challenge has brought about some profound positive mental and emotional changes. A natural born cynic, I've found myself instead looking for the positive in things. Isn't it funny how we will always find what we look for? I feel as if my eyes have been opened a bit wider and are seeing more beauty. And not just that, but there are little coincidences or maybe call them chance occurrences or connections happening around me that hadn't happened in the past. Perhaps they were always occurring but I missed them because I wasn't aware. Now it's as if I'm attracting wonderful coincidences - or that the little orbits around me are aligning.

One such little coincidence was reading the book Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg. I had no plan to read it. I had a whole list of books I wanted to read and none were available at the library on Kindle. Terri looked through available Kindle books and randomly selected it for me. So I thought, what the heck, I don't have anything else to read right now, so I read it. It's about a middle-aged woman who meets new friends and they all decide to make dramatic changes in their lives - facing fears and pushing out of their comfort zones. It's an easy, fun read - nothing literary. I was struck by the central message: "it's never too late to start over" and how the book came to me purely by chance right when I was beginning this challenge. Just a coincidence or did I somehow attract this story to me just when I needed to read it?