Sometimes Your Body Whispers Before It Cries Out

I woke up this morning in so much gratitude for the last week. 

Today is a Thursday and last Thursday I arrived in Cincinnati in time for women’s lunch at Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate some of the outstanding women of achievement and business in Cincinnati. It was a beautiful tribute and the lunch was fantastic. It was a good way to start.

On Friday I sang at a memorial service for a friend who had transitioned, and attended the luncheon afterwards with the family and friends. It was a beautiful day and I’m so grateful.

I dropped my phone on the way back to my car and broke the screen that afternoon. It was still usable, but I cut my finger a couple of times on the glass. I knew I needed to go and get a phone, but I was so exhausted. I just wasn’t able to do it over the weekend. Mentally it was sort of the final straw of my exhaustion.

On Saturday was the Derby and I had low-key dinner with two other friends and then we celebrated the Derby with hats and marshmallow bets on our horses. It was fun, but I could feel the anxiety and the exhaustion very heavy in my body. 

Sunday I went on a walk in nature with my friend Robin, and we scattered the remainder of her parents ashes in a local park then had breakfast at a really great restaurant close by. 

Sunday afternoon she holds dream circles at her house. She is a dream coach and works with the messages from our dreams. Who is my first experience with her doing that here at her house. In the past, I  have experienced dream workshops, dream work with her, but it had been some years. It was a fascinating afternoon, and I truly enjoyed every single aspect of it. And yet underneath, I was exhausted to a point of exhaustion I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced before.  

Monday, I had to go get a phone. Enough said. Everyone understands how hard that is the time, energy and frustration of remembering all your passwords and logging back into your stuff. I’m still working on it. Four days later.

I was supposed to go to a reception for a conference. I was going to on Tuesday and Wednesday, but by the time I got done with the phone and had a meeting with a friend I just could not go to the reception.

Tuesday morning arrived rainy and cold. The meeting was in Cincinnati downtown and I drove through rush-hour traffic to get there and then ended up parking on the street which was fine except I had to go out every two hours to feed the meter. 

The conference was amazing. It was called Connecting for the Common Good. It was based around the good work of Peter Block, who is an amazing man and his work is such a gift. 

I have been fortunate to know Peter, and participate in his work in various forms for the past 16 years. His conversational approach has informed every aspect of my living and being in this world since I started practicing.

There were well over 100 attendees to this conference from all over the country, which is just amazing and so hopeful, overall, the experience was something that I will treasure for the rest of my life, but I was exhausted and the level of conversation in a room with bad acoustics, and everyone talking at the same time was very overwhelming and I found myself at times sitting on a chair by myself, willing myself to find a moment of rest in the middle of that hurricane. 

Thursday, I held a group conversation around music, which was truly amazing and Thursday afternoon I was able to share the song, Summertime, which is one of Peter’s favorite songs as his father used to sing it to him when he was a boy. That is a gift, to me and from me,  that I am so very grateful was able to happen. 

And so, we arrive at Thursday one very full week since I have arrived in Cincinnati. This morning I canceled everything else that I had planned for the rest of the weekend. I am resting. 

Next Wednesday, my birthday, I drive to Nashville for a retreat and I plan to do very little between now and then. I appreciate your time in reading this and trust it’s come to you at the right time.