Finding Much Needed Peace

What have I discovered in the last few days? That we all need to get away and rejuvenate our bodies, minds, and souls. Without this, we fall prey to the wolf that prowls outside our door.

This week my husband arranged a week for me to get away from everybody and everything. Well, not total escape, but enough so that I could pull myself back together. It has been great. It is something that we all need to do yet never seem to be able to.

We have our jobs, our families, our friends, and so on. Where is the time for sanity? It has to be made.

You don’t have to take a whole week each time. That is unrealistic. A few hours here and there is completely within reach. It might not seem like it, but it is there.

I needed this time. I was about to go over the edge. There is enough stress in life without closing up all the relief points. Here is what my daily life is like.

Try to get up to help hubby get the kids off to school. Hard to wake up when you have been up all night because your brain won’t stop. Get up and check emails. Respond to emails and check any correspondence from school. Next, look at to-do list.

Read my textbook. Write first draft of a 350 word essay. Begin research on seven page research paper. Write 2 articles for client. Answer the twenty phone calls that arrive. Five knocks at the door. Take the dogs out during the day. School is out. Five children arrive. Get everyone snacks and onto their homework. Realize that I have done no housework. Two children go home. Three children remain and try to kill each other. My nerves begin to fray. Behind on school work, behind on money making work, constant stream of people, children bickering incessantly over extremely stupid things, house is disaster. All of this makes me want to check into a mental hospital.

How can someone keep their wits about them when there is no place to gather them? There has to be a place to escape. It could be a little space in the attic or basement. It might be in a gazebo. It could be at a park. It might need to be at a hotel.

When I get this time away for even just a few hours, I feel the Medusa figure fading into the background and peace reclaim my soul. Instead wanting to tie the children up, I begin to be strong enough to handle the spats. I can take on the world instead of wanting to be swallowed up by it.

I need to make this time away a bigger part of my schedule. Though I am working during this “vacation”, I am relaxing. I can watch a TV show without interruption. I can take a bath without a knock on the door. I can become human again.

Sanity Get Away

I have discovered quite a bit in the last few weeks. One of them is the need to get away. For sanities sake, we have to get away. When we don’t, we are opening ourselves up to nervous breakdown that can destroy us and our families.


In my family, I am hardpressed to find peace. We live in a small duplex that is comfortable and nice. The only drawback is that there is nowhere to go when I have to read something, listen to a video, or just to gather my thoughts. Though the kids are gone during the day, my husband works from home. 75% of the time his work comes to our house. I am then regulated to the bedroom in the midst of his meetings. To a degree I feel like a prisoner.

I was going to take my work and study area to the basement. Winter is setting in, and the dogs do not like to go outside in the ice and snow. They have found that they can do their business in the basement on newspaper. I cannot handle the smell. So where do I go? Where do I find a place of my own? I don’t know.

This week, my husband put me up at a hotel so I could get some peace. I’m woefully behind in my school work. I’ve got work to do that brings in money. I want to just watch a television show without constant chatter. I want to read a book without constant interruption. I want to mentally run away.

I grew up as an only child. I had three older siblings, but they were 20, 18, and 15 years older than me. I don’t know what it is like to have siblings. They were more like distant aunts and uncle to me. To this day, what do I have in common with them? I’m still the pain in the butt baby. I was used to having quiet and solitude. Dad was gone from Monday through Friday travelling with his job. It was just me and mom in a three bedroom home that had a living and a den. I could find a place to get away anywhere.

Going off to college, there were still ways to find peace and quiet. Getting married right out of college, it was still just me and my husband. We had a two bedroom apartment. I could still get away and find quiet. Even after the first child was born, I was fine. It was when there were three of them in two and three bedroom apartments and they were considerably older. Now, my sanity goes out the window.

I now have a 14 year old whose mouth never stops. I have a 12 year old son who wants to fight with both sisters all the time. I have an 8 year old daughter who is an extreme busybody and starts most fights. I have an ADD husband who cannot sit still. I sit there wanting to disappear. In our house there is never a moment of quiet. Thus, my road to mental derangement.

I am not like my family at all. Yet, I cannot be me. Right now, my husband is just understanding this and is trying to help me find a way to not be committed to an asylum.

I am discovering that maybe I am mental. :)