Last week was the best week in studying that I’ve had since starting my 300-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training (AYTT) on June 1st. I really felt like I’ve gotten in the zone and have been able to complete assignments and stay on track while learning a lot. I’ve noticed that the way I teach my virtual classes is also improving. I plan out my studying schedule for the upcoming week on Sunday nights; and since I had scheduled a fun mother-daughter outing with my friend and her daughter for Friday, I made sure I got a lot done in the first half of the week. I was so excited when I was able to get a week’s worth of assignments and studying on Monday and Tuesday (I studied from morning until just before dinner time on both of those days). On Tuesday night, I thought to myself, “Maybe I should really get ahead and do next week’s studying tomorrow.” Well, that did not happen.
Early on Wednesday morning, my daughter said goodbye before she left for work. She decided to ride her skateboard to work that morning, which she has done many times before. She always texts me when she gets to work (which is only 10 minutes away on her skateboard), so I was waiting for her text message; but instead of a text message 10 minutes later, I got a phone call from her about 7-8 minutes after she left… and she was crying! Of course, I shot up out of bed and immediately asked her what was wrong. She had fallen off of her skateboard and badly sprained her ankle! Since I track her location when she’s en route, I knew exactly where she was so I got in my car and got to her in less than 4 minutes.
Her ankle was very swollen, so I had her elevate her foot, put an ice-pack on it and made sure she stayed on the couch the rest of the day. I was glad to take care of her that day, but I literally could not get anything else done (other than teaching my virtual yoga class mid-morning) because I was going up and down the stairs to get her what she needed. It was the same thing on Thursday, where after I finished teaching my Thursday morning virtual yoga class, I was her caretaker and companion. We did end up going out on our outing on Friday (thanks to a pair of crutches I was able to buy through the NextDoor app), and we had a great time.
So here’s the lesson I learned last week: Sometimes God frees up your schedule not so that you can fill it back up with stuff, but because He knows you will need to be available for an unforeseen event. Obviously, taking care of my injured daughter is not something I would’ve ignored if I had a full schedule, but I know that if I had unfinished assignments for the remainder of the week, I would’ve felt overwhelmed or tempted to sacrifice sleep to get caught up. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to lose sleep other than waking up in the middle of the night wondering if she was sleeping okay.
There’s something to be said about having pockets of “free time” planned into our schedules. I hope that next time you find yourself all caught up with your to-do list, you take a moment (or longer) to sit back and practice some self-care.
Oh, and my daughter is doing much better; her ankle is still slightly swollen, but she is able to walk on it with no pain and was able to go back to work today. 😊
With Gratitude,
Jheni Solis Wellness 