Pause from the Pause Blog

So, its been a while. I have been taking a pause from the pause blog. This is not because I have been failing in my attempts to pause, but actually because I have found that in the time I have found to take pause, I haven't felt much like writing for the blog. In some ways, this in and of itself is a little success. Typically, I would feel guilty (GUILT!?) about neglecting the blog and would have forsaken other self-care activities to write something. I have been more forgiving of myself lately, and have not felt obligated to document my pausing.

The past three months have been very full, no surprise. Since I last wrote, I have led 6 trainings for work (5 days each)--4 in LA, 1 in Minnesota and 1 in Oakland. I have finished the first draft of the manuscript for my coding paper project (representing 3 years of work!). I have been working a lot. Too much. This was perhaps best illustrated during the month of March, wherein I got sick repeatedly with variations on the same virus and ended up with total laryngitis for about 5 days. (Nightmare for someone who makes her living off public speaking.) Despite all this work, I have also taken several generous pauses.

We went on an amazing ski trip with our friends to Mammoth Mountain. Most pause-ful moment was my first time skiing in fresh powder. Alone on the mountain, early in the morning, snow up to my knees, breathing in the clean cold air...a truly memorable pause.

I turned 32, happily.

I took some time away from my training in Minnesota to visit with my new brother and sister in law and awesome niece and nephew!

I had my first visit to the Getty Museum on a lovely Sunday afternoon with my Geoff. (And then immediately fell ill with the flu.)

I got to spend some much needed quality time with visiting friends--Kristy one weekend and Amy the next!

And I dressed up like the sexual-fantasy Viking version of Maude from Big Lebowski to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of my dearest friends here in LA--Tiffany!

I took an actual VACATION from work, and went to the East Coast for a week on what I called "THE BABY TOUR" wherein I rubbed a lot of pregnant bellies, cooed over adorable babies, and played with adorable little children. I also got to see some of my close friends and family who are not currently "with child"....LOL. Here is just a sampling of the fun:

 Now, let's check in on my resolutions...

Take the EPPP and get licensed as a Psychologist.
Absolutely no progress. I am going to send my registration in this week.
Regularly back up my laptop.
FAIL.
Make pictures albums out of my digital photographs so that if they are all stolen again I can have hard copies.
I ordered wedding photos. Does that count?
Pay off my credit card debt.
DONE! HOLY COW!
Hire an accountant.
I have talked with one on the phone multiple times!
Go visit my friends and family on the East Coast.
Done!
Cook something new every week.
So, this has been more like twice a month. Most recent hit was homeade BBQ sauce.
Sign up for yoga.
I did this. I took two classes. Both times there was a weird guy next to me that made creepy orgasm noises with every breath. I may go back. Or not.
Party like a rockstar before I start making babies at some vague point in the future.
See photos of viking costume.



Overall, the pausing is going well. I feel like I have made some major headway in my ability to take more moments during the day to pause and gather my thoughts. I feel like I am taking more time before I made decisions, write emails, or react. Maybe related to all this pausing was a significant increase in my productivity--or maybe other factors are responsible there. Nontheless, I have managed to continue to pause in an intensely busy time with work. During March, my body simply shut down with sickness, but I feel like that was not because I was completely overwhelmed, just that I guess I wasn't well defended against the onslaught of viruses this year. And I should have gotten a flu shot.  Will pause to do that next year.


I have paused significantly in the last week to think of and pray for my friends and family who have been faced with recent challenges. I have several close friends who have been dealing with either their own health issues or the health issues of their children, and have shed tears wishing that I could take their pain away. Also, someone close to me has been struggling with a difficult break up and I have felt very protective and heartbroken for that person and have been thinking of him on basically a constant basis. However, I have felt immensely grateful for my own health and for Geoff during these moments of pause.  My life is full of blessings, and pausing to appreciate them is the best thanks that I can give to the Universe for sending them my way.


Next week I take a luxurious, lengthy pause with my Geoff. We are going to Hawaii for a week to explore volcanoes and roll around on black sand beaches and do the adventurous-relaxation-type stuff that we love.....