Be Gentle With You

You know how people who have changed their eating habits or started taking vitamins or drinking shots of wheat grass or whatever always say, “My energy went through the roof!” Actually, the Whole 30 books say this, too.

Not for me.

Now, I’m not saying I have less energy – not at all. But, what I think is happening is I am more aware of my high and low energy periods throughout the day because they are not chemically enhanced or the result of sugar withdrawal. They are just my normal patterns of energy and fatigue.

I just told my daughter how awesome it is that I can now take naps in the afternoon. And she asked, “Is that great? I thought you were supposed to have more energy when you eat well and stop eating all the carbs and chemicals and such.” It made me really think. I’m not cheating on Whole 30. Seriously. I’ve been deeply committed to this whole thing, and I’m eating plenty of protein. So, I really don’t think it’s the menu or the way I’m eating it that’s making me tired in the afternoons.

Here’s what I do think is happening: I have always been tired in the afternoons. Always. But, 47, 46, 45 (you get the idea) and I just slammed a Pepsi and got on with the day. Just push hard enough, and you can get through the afternoon. But 48 and I are paying attention to lots of things besides food. We are feeling the fatigue – and without the option of a Pepsi or a carb-y snack to fuel our push – we are sitting down on the sofa for a while. And since our sofa is a recliner, we pull that lever and feel the footrest lift our tired feet, and we let our neck relax until our head rests on the big, soft, pillowy part of the sofa. Then 48 and I close our eyes to test our fatigue. If our eyes are kind of stinging when we close them, if our stiff neck feels better at rest, then we silence our phone and stay there for a while. We are simply amazed that our brain will quiet and our breath will slow, and we will sleep for only 30 minutes – and feel great!

That’s brand new. Seriously. I have never been able to take a nap that is less than 90 minutes of sleep. And since it always took me 30 minutes to get quiet enough to fall asleep, it meant 2 hours in the middle of the day. Who has that?! So, I Pepsi’d instead of napped.

Here’s a weird-angled selfie of me in my spot on the sofa as I write this blog post before I close my laptop, silence my phone, and rest a while before I go back to the church office for several hours.

Yes, that is a GIANT stuffed bear in the middle of the living room. Our dog, Eleanor Rigby, loves that bear (whose name is Father McKenzie, of course). Also, yes, this pastor has a pew in her living room; her daddy shortened a long pew for her one day a long time ago. She loves churches, pews, worship, and her daddy, so she adores that pew.

Eleanor Rigby met Father McKenzie when she was 7
weeks old. Through the months, she napped on him. And now that she is one year old, she still likes him – but she mostly likes to chew on him, so we tossed him over the baby gate into the living room the other day to save his life.. and there he still lies.

Now, it’s time to hit “Publish” on this blog and close my eyes a while.