Dodging mud puddles

As I write this, we are enjoying a very rare “Kona storm” a phrase coined by the old-timers to describe a heavy, consistent rain that approaches from the south (towards Kona) only occasionally and brings with it heavy rain that dances on the tin roof. It’s a delicious sound, this rare rain on the tin roof, and it is a sound that those of us who are lucky enough to have grown up in Hawaii have a true appreciation for.

My furry companion however has NO appreciation for this wonderful rain, in fact, we spent the better part of our walk this afternoon dodging mud puddles. 

She would do everything she could to avoid the mud puddles, at one point paying no heed to the ambulance blaring its siren as it drove by, or the out-of-town driver who was lost. Nope, she just wanted to avoid that mud puddle at all costs. 

Life has been that way lately. I have been focusing on the obstacles, the worst-case scenarios that “might” happen, the bad outcome that “could” happen, so much so, that my attention, (like my sweet puppy) zeroes in on the one thing I want to avoid most instead of the beauty of the rain, the smiles from strangers on the street and the warm bath in the kitchen sink (for one of us), that awaits.

Maybe you too have been doing your best to avoid a mud puddle. My advice? Look up, look around. take in a smile from a stranger, and if you end up a little muddy because you stepped in the mud puddle anyway? Well, that’s nothing a  warm bath in the kitchen sink can’t cure 😉

Happy trails…

When my sisters and I were younger, we would trek around town in our rubber boots purchased from Sure Save. We would play hard, climbing the old pepper tree in my parents’ backyard and race our bikes along country roads like this one. We would go and go and go until we heard the dreaded “time for naps!” coming from the house as my mom called us in. “But we’re not tired!” we would exclaim as we elbowed and kicked each other on our way through the front door.

Shouts of “stop touching me! “and “she started it!” and “quit looking at me that way!” would accompany us as we flopped onto our bunk beds. Our eyes heavy and yet fully open, we would exclaim that we weren’t tired and that we would NEVER fall asleep. 

Inevitably, we would, one by one, close our eyes “just for a second” as we listened to the cooing doves and drink in the smell of freshly cut grass drifting through the windows.

What is it about being tired that we fight so much? Like little kids, when someone says to us, “you look tired, you should rest, “we immediately say, “no, I’m not!” and take offense. 

So why do we fight fatigue?

There’s nothing wrong with closing our eyes; there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that we are tired.  Even though, as adults, we may not be going through growth spurts like we did as little kids, we are still growing intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.

We still need time to sleep, to rest our eyes. We are all exhausted. Who isn’t completely exhausted?! 

Fighting the fatigue won’t make it better; instead, maybe we should fall into the fatigue, acknowledge the exhaustion, tame the tiredness, smooth the frayed edges. 

How do we do that? 

Well, when someone says “you look tired” or “this must be so exhausting, “you can say, “yes, I am tired, yes it is exhausting” and give yourself some grace.

After all, who doesn’t feel better after a nap?