Boring

Laying in bed sick can get incredibly boring! I'm able to do a lot more now, but I still have to spend a significant part of my day resting/recovering and that can get old. Being in the house a lot has forced me to be creative with things to pass the time. It's good to have FUN when you're suffering. I'm not the craftiest, stay-stay-at-home-making-goodies-in-the-kitchen kind of person. I'm more of a go-out-and-do-active-fun-stuff kind of girl, but being sick and stuck at home has helped me find new talents! And finding new talents is good for your brain according to Martha Beck. She says...

In his fascinating book The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle describes how the brain reacts when a person develops a new skill. Performing an action involves firing an electrical signal through a neural pathway; each time this happens, it thickens the myelin sheath that surrounds nerve fibers like the rubber coating on electrical wires. The thicker the myelin sheath around a neural pathway, the more easily and effectively we use it. Heavily myelinated pathways equal mad skills.

When I first got sick I was mad I couldn't do all the things I used to, and I was not loving the idea of having to find new talents, but thankfully I have awesome friends that showed me that you can do creative crafty stuff at home that isn't super cheesy or difficult. (Love you girls!) I thought this post might also be useful to my stay-at-home mom friends and my friends who are caretakers to a sick spouse. (Thanks for all your awesome 'pass-the-time' ideas!) Here are some fun stuff you can do while you're stuck at home.

1. Halloween Decorations: We painted pumpkins this year which is really fun! You can paint them with a spooky theme or a fall-ish theme.

I got this other idea from my girl Mary Ann. (She's my crafty idol). Some spooky decor...

Here is a website she sent me with fun Halloween treat ideas...
www.ourbestbites.com
Go to the website to get details on how to do it. All you need is some mason jars, mod-podge, and tissue paper.


2. Like I said, I'm not the craftiest person, but I love making stuff and being creative. Here are some things my friends have made. Some of them have even made it profitable to be stuck at home. Scanning etsy.com can inspire you with all kinds of creative ideas!

3. Knitting sounds so grannyish (not that there's anything wrong with granny's) but it is so relaxing. (This was another great idea from my friend MA). I promise it's really easy! You can buy kits, yarn, and flowers at Michael's craft store. It's really inexpensive.


In addition to these crafty projects, here are some other activities that may help you pass the time (and have some fun).

4. You can try out Netflix. The movies come straight to your door if you can't get out. You can get TV shows and watch some right away on your computer. (I recommend The West Wing- 7 awesome seasons. I love Gilmore Girls and the new show Community is hilarious.)

5. Start a book club. I loved the last book club I was in. It doesn't take a ton of effort, it's a one hour a month commitment to meet up, and it really passes the time. It got me passionate about reading and gave me new ideas of books to read while I was taking time out in bed. Connect with other readers on GoodReads

6. Become an activist. Find something you're passionate about. Read, research and get the word out through blogging, Facebook, email about how to help. Even if you're not mobile or physically capable of helping, you can do a lot from your home to help.

7. Serve. Try to find one person a day you can serve. I know it may seem difficult when you're sick and/or stranded, but you can still serve from your home. Even if it's just a phone call, note, or donation. You can do important loving acts of service. Early during my illness I felt inspired to pray everyday and ask "Who needs me to today?". I'm grateful for that inspiration, the opportunity to serve has in so many ways carried me through the most difficult days. Everyone can use a little love. I'm so grateful for the phone calls, card, emails, gifts of money, and packages that my sweet friends and fam sent me while I was extremely ill. I will never forget your examples of service!

P.S. I'm always looking for new ideas so please share if you have any!

Take another picture with your click click click click camera...

The title of this post is from a song I love by Bishop Allen. Okay, I've been driving my husband crazy with all the pictures I've been taking. I just tell him that I've spent the last few years sick and in bed, so now I have to document every time I leave the house :) Every time we do something fun, and I feel healthy and 'normal,' I want to remember it. I will never take living regular life for granted again! I know the blessings of working, going to a movie, eating out, going on a walk, getting a full nights sleep, and so on can be fleeting and are things we can not take for granted! Everything looks so beautiful when you're not in a ton of pain. So here's a pic of a big milestone for me. (I've gone out of my way to keep my identity and location anonymous on here because I have readers that I don't know. I figured this pic isn't too telling of what I look like.) It's a pic of me playing a VB game for the first time in 3-4 years. Yeah!!! My sweet husband offered to document it for me. It's a good thing I'm somewhat 'back in the game' 'cause I'm helping coach the church volleyball team.
Being sick has changed my perspective on everything. Including simple things like doing the dishes. I love to do the dishes because if I'm doing them it means I'm well enough to get out of bed and stand for a while! I had a professor tell me this story once. It really helps to put things into perspective.

Sometimes, as humans, we only see things from a narrow perspective. We look through the keyhole of a door and assume we see the whole picture. Imagine you are walking down the street and you hear screaming behind a door. You run to the door where it's coming from. You can't open the door. It's locked. You peak through the keyhole and see several masked men with knives surrounds a screaming woman strapped to the table. You panic and try to open the door. You are scared to death.

What you don't realize is that if you were in the room with her and saw the entire sequence of events that led to her being strapped to the table, instead of just a short keyhole perspective, you would know that she needed an emergency c-section to save her life and the life of the baby. You would see that the masked men are doctors not murders. If you were in the room and saw clearly what was happening from the beginning as well as after the surgery, you would see her alive and holding her baby. You would see her thanking the 'masked men' for saving her life. We see the crisis in life and panic trying to fix it. God is in the room. He sees the beginning and the end clearly. He has complete perspective, and He knows what we need. (Dr. Randy L. Bott)