Tiredness for coaches.

This week you can also find me on The Huffington Post here.

I am so tired tonight.

Hubby has been away this week and that means I have been doing all the stuff that he usually does.

Now this makes me so glad I have a husband that does help with family, in the house and with the dog, garden and washing.

But it’s a shock to the system when he’s away.

And I can’t believe how little I’ve done to work on the business this week.

Even the weather was weird today. There was the eclipse and the darkness of it seemed to hang like a cloak over the rest of the day. The air had the feel of being at sea in the fog, even though the fog of this morning cleared. The light was grey, not the grey of winter. Instead a grey of forgotten spring.

So I could write you a peppy upbeat post like a sugar cereal advert with added pop and fortified with essential optimism.

But you wouldn’t believe me if I said that I always had the bounce of tigger. That would be a lie.

The difference is that as I coach I know how to look after myself better now. I know how to get my life ship out of the fog.

I know where to plot the points on the charts and I know when I will see land and I know it will always be soon.

I notice my thinking. I remember that I feel this way because I stayed up late last night, because, just because the next day was Friday.

So my advice when you are tired, out of sorts or grumpy:

Notice your moods, notice your thinking.

Watch them float like clouds scudding across a rain torn sky.

Return to your heart and rest there.

Cup your hands around cinnamon scented chai.

Read the ‘The Cat in the Hat Comes Back’ and know that every little cat in every little hat will always be there to help you.

Talk to a friend – Christel Van Gelder, you rock.

Music needs rests in it and those rests are part of what gives it its form.

You need rest too.

Allow it.

Give in to it.

Luxuriate in it.

Then when you do and you look at yourself in the mirror see the care that you have afforded yourself reflected in your well-rested face.

To push and push without taking time to rest is not kindness.

Rest is one of the most gentle forms of kindness.

Goodnight.