Recharging my Batteries

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and after that, several days of the BEST SALES EVER!!! Even with the SALE SALE SALE madness I am taking a break from the computer. I don’t have any posts scheduled, and apart from some scheduled tweets and maybe a picture or two on Instagram, I won’t be on social media.

2014 has been a wild ride, that’s for sure. And I am so thankful for my health, my family, and all of you who have stuck with Wardrobe Oxygen through the highs and lows. And I want to take this holiday to slow down and enjoy it all.

While the blog has been doing phenomenal (hello all you new subscribers and followers, I am so psyched to have you on this journey with me!), the day job has also been super busy. We’re going through some big changes at our company which are exciting, a bit nerve-wracking, and adding more work to my already overflowing Outlook calendar. And while this blog is my passion, my day job is what pays the bills while also holding a very large part of my heart. And on top of it, there’s a 6’5” guy and a 3’9” gal at home who I want to spend as much time with as possible.

I’m betting a lot of you can relate to this. Everyone I talk to has mentioned how crazy life has been. Where did the time go? How is it already the end of November? Omigoodness it’s almost CHRISTMAS and then 2015! It’s going to be go time from now until the kids go back to school in January (and for me, not until February thanks to January being the month of almost my whole family’s birthdays).

Last year I was go go go and figured I could rest once Valentine’s Day arrived. And then Valentine’s Day weekend I broke my arm which affected the rest of the year not just for me but my family, my friends, and my job. You can’t predict your future, you can’t rely on reaching that light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes you just need to force a stop, a recharge of your batteries.

So Wardrobe Oxygen will go dark until Monday so I can slow down and enjoy the holiday sans blog and sans day job. Thursday we will spend at my mom’s with almost 20 friends and family (my family and Karl’s together!). This weekend we have no concrete plans and I couldn’t be more thrilled. I hope to sleep until a crazy-haired little person in Hello Kitty pajamas crawls in bed with us and finally wakes us with too many jabs in the back with bony elbows and knees. I look forward to watching a movie, either in a dark theater as a trio or curled up on the couch under an afghan crocheted by my mom. I want to wash all the laundry in the house and finally get the summer clothes out of the office and into the attic. I want to take a walk without a scheduled end time, having it during daylight so I can see nature around me and maybe go off the path and roam into the woods. I want to have a cup of coffee go cold in my hands because I got lost in thought. I want to waste some time and not feel guilty or stressed. Even if it’s five minutes wasted, I want to waste those five minutes with delicious abandon.

You can’t properly help others if you don’t help yourself first. I’ve always said that, but I learned that lesson completely this year. Thanksgiving is a special holiday for us Americans, a time where we should stop and count our blessings. Let’s use this holiday to be thankful for the beautiful things in our lives, but also take a bit of time for ourselves to recharge and refresh. Whether it’s waking an hour before everyone else so you can sip a cup of tea in silence or putting the kids to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual to have some moments for a bubble bath, see if you can find a way to “waste time” and recharge your battery this weekend. You deserve it, and those who love you will benefit from it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Love,
Alison