Setting a New Pace

When you're healthy, it's easy to be sucked into the hectic, go, go, go pace of everyday life and it's hard to find the time to slow down and enjoy a quieter, calmer pace. On the flip side, when you have a chronic illness like Lyme disease, you will find yourself with a lot of time to sit and twiddle your thumbs.

Thanks to Lyme disease, I've had a taste of both paces: Pre-Lyme disease--"I will make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich right after I wash the dishes, do the laundry, change the baby's diaper, scrub the toilets, run to the post office, feed the dog, put gas in the car, and blah, blah, blah!"/And during Lyme disease--"Hey, Honey, come look at this! That crack on the ceiling looks just like a moose! And look at that! That one looks just like Abe Lincoln!"

So now, as I revel in the fact that I have more energy again and I'm able to do more things, I struggle with putting into practice some of the most important lessons chronic Lyme disease has taught me: Slow down or you'll miss out on everything! Life is precious and you are not promised tomorrow. Live in the moment. 

It seems fitting that as I began working on this post this morning (I'm a very slow, perfectionist writer, if you didn't know), I found myself sitting there typing away on the laptop, with my kitty softly purring on my lap, traces of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on my face and with hair and clothes soaking wet from playing out in the rain with my three year old. I stopped writing, closed my eyes for a few seconds and got lost in the moment.

And then I got up, swept the floor, did the dishes, gave the cat his flea medicine, etc. Moment over.

“Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life.” — Thich Nhat Hanh