What I Learned from My Day Off – or Focus, Refocus, and Accountability – Growing HOPE Radio September 15 2014

I can take a break and not cause the world to end. I can take time off and not cause time to stand still. I may want to keep going and get it done, but there are days when I have to take time to recharge so I am ready to keep on going.

[tweetthis]“I need the right focus if I am going to walk the right path.”@kathrynclang[/tweetthis]

Recharging does more than fill me with a renewed energy. It allows me to regain the focus that will make it possible to put that energy behind the right actions. I need the right focus if I am going to walk the right path.

Growing consistency requires doing it over and over. Growing consistency will help me have the right focus and will provide me with the action I need to walk out that focus. But sometimes that consistency requires listening to the needs of the day and adjusting accordingly.

I woke up to one of those days. My head throbbed so hard that it hurt the joints and muscles in my body. Migraines have been a part of my life from time to time, but rarely do they wake me up from sleep.

This was one of those headaches that make you wish you could figure out a way to pop your skull. Surely popping your skull would be less painful. My husband heard the commotion of my moans and wanted to help. “Can I do something? Maybe I could rub your back?”

For those that have faced down a headache of this magnitude, you know the answer. “Don’t touch me. Don’t move. And while I am being forced to speak, how about you not even breathe for a while.” Motion, sound, smells, light, and even tough can all push the pain to the next level, and that is not a good thing.

My dear, darling, wonderful husband had no idea. I knew he had no idea. Instead of saying what was in my thoughts, I simply asked him to close the curtains to our windows. He obliged and then ran from the room to hide elsewhere in the house.

I am almost certain I didn’t say any of these things I was thinking.

Every single morning since June, I have consistently gotten up first thing in the morning to read the Scripture and to do an exercise routine. Despite the pain pulsing in my head, I still felt guilty because I was not getting up to continue in my consistency.

I managed later in the morning to sit up – slowly – and read my Scripture. I knew that if sitting up had caused my head to throb again that exercising would be out of the question. Guilt continued to eat at me. I had been consistent – I did NOT want to throw that away.

I stayed in an out of sleep for most of the morning. By afternoon, I managed to get up out of the bed – still moving slow so as not to kick the migraine back into high gear. I accepted that maybe for one day I needed to be focused on my healing and not being consistent in my exercise.

WHAT I LEARNED ON MY DAY OFF

1. Sometimes consistency has to adjust in the moment.
2. Consistency begins in the heart.
3. Guilt should never be my guiding force.
4. A day invested in healing will reap a bountiful harvest.
5. I may not have a perfect record, but I continue to get up and start again.

[tweetthis]“I may not have a perfect record, but I continue to get up and start again.”[/tweetthis]

Investing in my focus means sometimes having to adjust and refocus. By developing a heart of consistency I will make it possible to take a day off and still stay on track.

Be blessed,

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