Happy, Healthy, & Horsey: Spring Fever

Spring is always a busy time.

Spring, for farm folk, is always a busy time. For this writer/lawyer/chaplain/musician/farm chic, these last few weeks have been a blur.

Work is busy in every respect, I took on additional chaplain duties recently, musician — can we say, “Easter”? — and every aspect of my farm is demanding my attention and care. The word “exhausted” comes to mind, and yet I never want to complain about my wonderfully busy, creative life.

There’s also been a fair amount of animal-related drama this week. I helped a new beekeeper get her very first swarm transferred into a hive, saved a snapping turtle that was stuck in traffic, and moved young Gil to a lovely farm where he can munch grass galore and romp and grow.

Gil, happily settled in at his new foster home. Photos by Diane Bresee.

Gil is now twenty months old. His mother was this age when she foaled Gil back in July of 2017. She was a very large (about 1,200 lbs) stock horse-type mare. Gil is built more like an eventing prospect with solid bone, trim build, and long legs. We shall see what the next year or two brings about with respect to his growth and development.

Gil can enjoy some lazy, lovely spring days, with zero responsibility and no demands made upon him.

Zero responsibility and no demands.

I wish.

In the grand scheme of things, I am super grateful for all the blessings in my life, make no mistake. I am healthy and getting stronger and finding my path towards happiness and a fulfilling life. #ThanksGod

But there are always a few gorgeous days each spring when the Tennessee weather is absolutely perfect. Sometimes, those sorts of days inspire me to organize the tack room or groom every horse I can get my hands on.

Other times, I just want to sit in the sun and breathe. That’s all — breathe.

No agenda.

No list of calls to return.

No stack of work to do.

No guilt about eating junk food.

Nada.

That very rarely happens in my world (and, raw honesty, I’d panic if the work phone ever actually stopped ringing…).

This week, I had my life scheduled literally down to the minute on some days, including Easter Sunday. Get up, do the chores, grab a shower, drive to church, warm up, tune up, play, play, play, hop in my truck and zip home in time for grilling out for the fam and (for the littles) an Easter egg hunt. It was all great fun, but for the fact that I was in desperate need of sleep by that time.

I’m sad to say I was so weary and grumpy I snapped at someone in my family whom I love dearly. I apologized, of course, but it made for a “bump in the road” (as my mom says) right on Easter Sunday, which made me especially sad that I’d spoken sharply to someone I care about, and also made me really mad at myself for not taking better care of me.

So. Once the eggs were (almost) all found and the tater salad put away and everyone gone to their respective homes, I sat myself down on my porch and did: nothing.

I fell asleep for a good long while (at least 30 minutes, which is a major nap for this chic) and then I spent some time considering how, if I want to truly be happy and healthy, I need to eliminate some stress in my life. The stress of too many commitments, despite the fact that I love all of the things I do.

Somehow I’m going to have to figure out a way to either create more hours in a day or eliminate some of the demands on my time.

Editing a document is rarely easy. Editing my life is going to be a major challenge, indeed.

And yet, there’s little joy in living a life crammed full with “to do” lists.

So I’m investing some time taking a long, hard look at my schedule, I’m also spending some time in the fresh air, asking such questions as “what truly makes you happy” so I can find ways to make more time for those things, while eliminating some of the more mundane pieces of the puzzle of my life.

What makes you truly happy?

#GrowBOLDnotOld

Go Riding.