I don’t care where you live,
if you are breathing, you have moments of stress. When those moments mount up
on you it’s time to take action. Living abroad has it’s own measure of stress,
I’m sure. I haven’t experienced much of it though.
Of course there are
inconveniences from time-to-time. Like when the bus recently changed its route.
They decided one day they were no longer coming to my neighborhood. I got on
the bus fully expecting to travel up the hill to the stop in front of my apartment.
The kind ticket taker said something to me and I showed him my bus pass and sat
down. Another woman got on as well. Others were standing on the sidewalk
arguing with the bus driver. Hmm…that’s
strange. I sat there wondering what was going on. The ticket taker said
something else to me and the other woman, shrugged his shoulders and closed the
doors. We did a U-turn in the street, came to a stop on the other side of the
road, and the doors opened for us to exit.
That could be an inconvenience
leading to stress, but I’ve learned that living in a new country is peppered
with those sorts of experiences and I simply can’t let them bother me. By the
way, there must have been a lot of complaining, because the next day the route
was reinstated.
No, my stress came by way of
work. Don’t get me wrong. I love my job. Teaching fourth graders in an
international school is exhilarating. I’m also the principal for the elementary
school. I was feeling a little under the weather, so this past week the demands
of those jobs and enough cold weather to merit indoor recess came together to
form a perfect storm. I had a meeting every day after school, a report to get
out, and fifteen little fold out books to make for my students.
I like to stay busy so this
should have been an energizing week for me. It wasn’t. I was frustrated with
one of the reports, the fold out books looked like a nest of white origami
birds ready to take flight in my living room, and I was tired. Bone tired.
So what did I do? First, I
took the advice of my friend Jon who always says everyone should watch Patton at least once a year. I checked
it out of the library and sure enough, I entered school the next day with my
combat boots on ready for service.
By the end of the week,
though, I was still tired. No. Exhausted.
When I left her house to come
to Kosovo, my daughter, Danielle, tucked a stack of envelopes in my luggage.
They were marked on the front “For the first day of school,” “On Thanksgiving,”
and so forth. I opened them as each event or holiday arrived. Sweet cards with
endearing messages of love and encouragement from my daughter were in each
envelope.
At the bottom of the stack she
had placed a few random cards:
“For when you feel sick”
“For when you’re lonely”
“For when you’re tired”
There it was. I hope I bring
the “sick” and “lonely” cards home with me unopened, but I tore into the one
for when I felt tired. Here’s what she wrote:
Relax! The world
will not stop if you take a needed break! Use wisdom, of course, and don’t be
lazy, but I give you permission to rest and catch up on your physical, mental,
and spiritual health! (Not that my permission means much, but maybe it will
free you from condemnation!)
Love you,
Danielle
She’s right…I don’t need her
permission, but it certainly felt good to have it! I stretched and made a plan
whereby I could finish one item on my list and move on. I read my Bible and
found a great sense of peace.
And then I called Danielle to
thank her for the cards and her words of wisdom. So if you’re reading this and
you, too, feel tired, you have my permission to rest.
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| I love all the cards my sweet daughter sent with me to Kosovo! |
