...On being exhausted

I do some of my best thinking when I'm tired. True enough, insomnia has, on more occasions than I care to count, had me doing nothing BUT thinking. However, that's not the point. There are times when the lack of sleep clogs the mind, and yet there are other times when that lack of sleep can really bring the obvious to the forefront of your mind and REALLY make you ponder what needs to be pondered.

I've been doing a lot of that lately.

Because I've been doing a lot of 'tired' stuff lately.

I suppose, as in any other area of life, there are two ways to deal with exhaustion--defeat or perserverance. I can choose to lay down on the couch and give in to the weight pulling down on me (and my eyelids), or I can choose to work through it. I'm sticking with the latter....partially because I have a brood of little ones pulling at me from every direction who simply will NOT tolerate Mom being too tired for anything....but mostly because if I gave in to being exhausted, I'd never get anything done. What's odd is that I'm finding myself rejuvinated in the very activities that I was dreading because of the energy required of my worn-out body. Funny how that works.

I'll admit; I've found myself next to unconscious, not even rocking in the rocking chair as I've put Shelby to sleep now and then. And there was Monday, when I was so tired that I fell asleep sitting UP on the couch while Morgan and Jamie....um....."did my hair". A little word of advice--don't ever fall asleep while a four-and-five-year-0ld have your hair at their mercy! It's not pretty. For the most part, though, the overwhelming nature of sleep deprivation hasn't overtaken me but a handful of times. I don't suppose it will, no matter how long this phase of life lasts. Just when I think I can't go a single minute more, I get a good bit of rest from my few hours' sleep, and I wake up raring to go.

Yesterday was one of those days. I finished the revisions on my Home Management Binder, got at least the rest of the girls' soft-cover schoolbooks stickered and covered with Contact paper, got the laundry caught up, and did several other tasks that have been falling through the cracks. Today, I probably won't get as much done, but I do thank God for the good days--I manage to get enough done to stay on top of everything!