Now that my February break has come to an end, I figured I would update you on how it went. Firstly, I feel absolutely refreshed! So much so that over this past weekend I was really excited to reconnect with my people on socials today and get moving forward with my new work goals. And by “work” I mean discovering a new career path (i.e., get a new job) as well as writing, blogging, merchandise development, and posting videos.
Oh, yea, I started a YouTube channel!
The channel is titled after my second blog “Insert Adventist” as it is a visual reflection of all the things that go on over there—DIYs, food, plants, shopping, devotionals, God-stuff… basically, everything that isn’t about books and writing. I feel like something is happening in this season of my life and I want to document it; even if I’m the only one who watches these videos, I want to be able to look back and see the journey (because it’s much easier than reading through a bunch of old journal entries… or blog posts). If you’d like to hang out with me from time to time, head on over there and subscribe to the channel.
I feel so much more like myself because I allowed myself to take some intentional time to relax, rest, and adventure in ways that felt comfortable to me. I’ve got three videos coming up on the YouTube channel about my February shenanigans, so I won’t go into detail here. But, one thing I learned during this break—I actually do like eating breakfast.
Since high school, I have always said I don’t like eating breakfast. Eating first thing in the morning just didn’t feel good and my body didn’t like it, so I avoided it as much as possible. I’d typically just have something to drink—in high school it was breakfast smoothies my mom made me drink, and as I got older it became coffee or tea. And over the past several months, I started stress-eating in the mornings as my workday began. Giving myself permission to slow down (completely stop in some ways) and cater to my mind over the past month taught me something—I like eating breakfast, just not before 8:00am.
Being able to slow down allowed me to let my body feel what it wanted to feel and give it what it asked for. I still wake up at 6:30am. Those quiet, candle-lit morning meditations feel like a hug from God. Having no set plans and no time demands, I don’t rush my devotional time or getting dressed. At around 7:30/7:45am I start to think I want something to eat, but I don’t feel hungry. Still, I set a couple eggs to boil or toss some veggie sausage patties into the oven and by the time they are done, it’s about 8:00am. I make some chai with Simply oat milk, add toast or a bagel (apparently, even though regular store-bought bagels make me feel sick, I can eat the NY bagels my mom got from a friend and stuck in the freezer without any issues) onto my plate with my eggs/sausage, and leisurely consume breakfast in bed while watching one of my recorded home renovation shows.
You see, it wasn’t that I didn’t like eating breakfast, the reality is my body doesn’t want to consume food early in the morning (before 8:00am). Also, it needs time to process and settle what I eat before I head out for the day. In high school, I was out the door by 6:15am to catch the bus (except for the one year I went to private school and had to be at my before-school job at 6:30am so we left the house at 5:15am to get there on time); when I worked at the middle school, I had to be there at 7:30am; and when I worked property management, I had to leave at 7:30am to be there by 8:30. All of that was just too early for me to ever want to eat breakfast.
Even though my most recent position was a bit different—not having to be at the office until 9:00am and then moving into working remotely—I spent a lot more time getting dressed in business casual than I did when all I had to do was throw on jeans, a branded polo, and flip flops like when I worked in property management. Also, most recently, there was just a lot of stress involved. Honestly, I don’t think I even realized how much stress my body was feeling that my brain hadn’t processed until recently.
I say all of that to say, taking this time has been good for me. There are still a lot of things I need to work on (mind, body, and spirit), but I feel like I actually have the capacity to work on those things now. That was my hope in taking February to rest, and I’m glad I accomplished what I set out to do. I’m excited about what’s coming next.
♥
Christine Gabriélle 