Tena's Take

I want to thank Missy and Meredith and Couture Cowgirl for hosting Tena's Take over the last few months. My decision to bring it back here has nothing to do with them, I adore them. It has more to do with the fact that I have neglected my own site for a while now and feel the need to touch base so to speak. Since there seems to be less and less time to write lately, actually to do all the things I want to do, I felt the need to regroup and come home for a while.

Home... a word that encompasses so many things. Not just a place to hang our hats and stable our horse but the one and only place that feels like the center of who we are. Home is having the freedom to be yourself without any expectations placed upon you. It is the light in our soul that allows us to shine but only after we are filled with the warmth of that light that we recieve, are we truly home. It is the comfort of knowing that we are safe and nothing from the outide world can hurt us. Home is where all things become quiet enough that we can think about our day and what tomorrow may bring and we can prepare ourselves for anything that may challenge us in the days ahead. It feels good to be home again.

I will admit that lately, it sometimes feels as though my life is spinning out of control. I have been working too hard for too long and truly feel I need a break. Not even when I was traveling all over the U.S. promoting the books and presenting the seminars have I felt so overwhelmed. Waking up in strange places and needing to take a moment or two to remember what city I was in. Getting home only to get back on a plane the following weekend and do it all over again.
The only difference is now I get up in the morning, slip my winter warmies over my pajamas and work until the sun sets. Then I fall in bed exhausted and get up and do it all over again. It's tiring.

It is a new year with new projects and new challenges and the holidays have taken their toll on all of us. So I have declared January "Be kind to yourself" month. Not officially and not for everyone with no act of Congress, tee hee, but here at my home and at all of yours if you so choose to recognize it. This month will be spent working but not as hard. Writing but writing what I want to write and for as long as I want to write. Long hot bubble baths and a glass of wine now and then. Getting to know my husband again who has worked as hard as I have in the past year. I will at some point, get on a plane and go see a friend and January will be about planning that trip. I have yet to decide who or where or even when exactly. I honestly don't know but the fun is in the planning to go for now.

If what we do defines who we are, lately, I am anything but a writer because I never have time to write. That is about to change. I think we all need to take time for ourselves and do what makes us who we are or we are lost. I think we all need to go home again, to that place that makes us feel safe and reminds us who we are. We need to go to the core of who we were before the chaos and feel the warmth of that loving place and just center ourselves and begin again. Thats where I am this January and today, I am taking the first step toward being kinder to myself, showing gratitude to those who love me, to slow down and really feel something again aside from exhaustion. To sleep through an entire night and wake in the morning at my own pace and feel refreshed. This is my journey and it begins right here and right now. I know it will allow me to be more creative and a better person in general and I invite you to come along on that journey.

Take a deep breath today, the holidays are over, we have spring to look forward to in a few months and in the meantime, we all need to slow down and take a break from the chaos and just be still and listen to what is possible. Be kind to yourself this month and take time to touch base with who you are and what you set out to accomplish in your life and use this month to get back on track. It's time to go home. Back to where it all began and look at it with a fresh perspective. Reset those goals and move ahead from there. One step at a time and one thought at a time. Only then can we enjoy every day that God has given us and stop worrying about what might happen and just be in the moment. So here I am, home. It feels good.