Even when we’re smooth sailing, sometimes we’ve got to think about the stormy seas.

Back in April, I came up with a great plan for a blog series I was going to kick off after Memorial Day. I’d do a weekly piece about keeping focused on your health goals during the simultaneously busy and lazy days of summer when staying up late because there’s no school and stops at neighborhood ice cream truck are regular events and daily challenges. I’ve had difficulty in the past staying focused during the summer months and I thought my publications could encourage others while keeping my goals front and center in my mind. But we’re two weeks away from the re-start of school and I have yet to publish any one of these in the series. Why, you ask? 

It’s not because I had lack of topics or even words to put down on the page. In fact, I had already written rough drafts for four entries before the end of May. What happened, however, was “life.” And by “life” I mean the sort of up and down events that get in the way of creating and having a regular humming rhythm by which to get things done. Here’s the story:  we had just returned from a short FL vacation at the end of May when, within a week of each other, my 87 year old father-in-law and my 16 year-old son both ended up in the hospital (for different reasons of course). Over the next six weeks each had several trips to doctors and specialists trying to diagnose and treat their ailments. My father-in-law landed in the hospital two more times during those weeks and my son never seemed to gain traction toward recovery. Finally, after much back and forth, my son received a diagnosis of mono which explained his complete lethargy and thirty pound weight loss. Similarly, my father-in-law’s docs figured out the medication adjustments that helped him reach stability and healing. Finally!

Obviously, I wasn’t completely consumed by their health issues during these weeks. It wasn’t like I had to sit at either’s bedside for days on end nursing them through extreme illness. In fact, we’ve gone to dinners, had movie nights at home and even went on another vacation. But their lagging ailments have been time and energy consuming as I’ve made appointments, schlepped them to and fro, and had to think about these things.  All of it has kept me from putting forth the extra effort required to get these posts published. 

Ironically– or maybe not so ironically, I’ve also not been as focused on following my health regimen since these illnesses occurred.  While I’ve stayed committed to my workout routine all summer, my eating habits have strayed and I’m five pounds up from where I was on Memorial Day. As I said, summer struggle is not new to me so I admit that I’m annoyed that the summertime has continued to challenge me. But after a few deep breaths and conversations with myself, I realize that it has been for legitimate reasons this year. And while I’m tempted to beat myself up mentally about my “failure,” I’ve realized these days that this is simply a good opportunity to practice grace with myself and figure out a few things I’ve learned. 

Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is to recognize that times of chaos will come. An illness, a job change, a move across the country—something will upright our smooth-sailing ships and create a storm of unruliness and commotion to our daily ordered living . I’ve realized the key is to get ready and  figure out what it is you’re not willing to give up during those hectic times. Your wellness is important—actually it is vital for you to be healthy and functioning so that you can address whatever it is that’s going on around you with at least some sort of nourished focus. So when something emergent has been unexpectedly added to your plate, you must immediately determine the non-negotiables. Perhaps you don’t have time to meal plan, but you can commit to eating a salad and protein at lunch. Or maybe you realize you’ve been hitting the cheese and crackers hard at the 5PM witching hour, but you decide you will not give up your morning workout and strength training.  Figure it out and figure it out, quick! What won’t you give up? Where will be your respite?

The other thing I realized was that I was grateful to have had a healthy routine pretty well established when the chaos did hit. That way, I was foundationally prepared for the stress that was coming. For over 20 months I had been practicing good habits like tracking my food, getting 7+ hours of sleep and drinking 80 oz daily, so when I had to pivot to care for my two sick guys, I was in a good place to do it. Even though I didn’t continue regularly with all of these habits while I cared for my family members, I can see it would have been even more overwhelming to tend to them if I hadn’t been caring for myself prior. I know that sounds like weird motivation—care for yourself so you can better care for others, but I believe it to be true. Because really—as a parent and as a child of aging parents I know I WILL have to care for people, so why not be ready?

The point is this: something will happen that tears our focus away from our daily healthy living. Living focused day by day until that time prepares us for those days ahead when we can’t. So enjoy the days when it’s all smooth sailing and relish in the routine and daily practices. Care well for yourself and be ready to give yourself some grace when you can’t.