The last two nights have been tough. After being sick for two weeks and sleeping a ton, I keep waking up in the night and can’t go back to sleep immediately. Being a mental health professional, I follow my own advice. I pray. I then get up for an hour and try again, I even sometimes exercise to ware myself out and also burn off the excess cortisol, and I even write out the thoughts running through my head. Sometimes it works and sometimes I desperately yet guiltily fight for a nap the next day (which I course no could risk making the cycle worse but a sleepy counselor or grumpy mom doesn’t work either).
Sometimes “life is what is” as my sister in law often remarks to me. She should know as she and her husband both carry a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer. Here’s what I know: sometimes we can just do what we can to cope and hopefully – and thankfully often – the rest of the world will just have to be patient.
Being a counselor who supports many on similar journeys, there is one more truth I cling to – it won’t always be this way. Tomorrow is just around the corner and reminding ourselves often of this truth can give us hope.
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