Orange Peel....

We were having one of those moments.

The Spring sky was piercing blue.  Kids zipped down blue slides or jumped from big green frog to big green frog.  “I can go higher than you,” children chanted at each other on the swings.   My daughter was playing with one of her favourite friends.  There was plenty to be grateful for.

“How are you?” Marjan asked.

“I’m ready to leave the kids with my husband and move to South America for a year.  I’ve had enough.  I’m over Motherhood.  I’m exhausted.  Five years of interrupted and low amounts of sleep, the kind they torture prisoners with, certainly contributes to it.  But it’s less the physical exhaustion than the emotional well used for “giving out to my children”.  It’s empty.  My soul is exhausted,” I told her.

“O my God, I’m so glad you said that,” M said. “So am I.”

Being able to share our burn out with another was therapeutic in itself.  We don’t hear others say it often enough, in fact we’d been under the illusion that we were the only ones!  But if we were experiencing it, so were a lot of others.  

We asked ourselves, “What would help alleviate the exhausted soul?  What would rejuvenate the soul, give it back its zest?  What would fill up the emotional well so we weren’t drawing on empty?

When you're giving out to others, there's got to be something to give from.  That well needs constant attention and topping up.  Otherwise, eventually, there will come a time when the well says, "Nope, got no water.  Not a bucket, not a cup, not a thimble.  Just some dry dust down here."

So we left the questions hanging that afternoon.  

We thought Orange Peel would be a way to start answering those questions, to reach out to others and share ideas and experiences about emotional rejuvenation.  

We’ve started “The List  ” and we’d love you to add your ideas to it of what do you do to fill the well? 

Then take “The Challenge”.  Let us know how it goes, we'd love to hear.