This is Me - Pie in the Sky
This is a post included in the This is Me series where I answer 1001 questions about myself as writing practice. Each post consists of me answering 5 questions about myself. Wanna share what you would answer to any or all of the questions? Do it in the comments section!
WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T AFFECT YOU BUT AFFECTS OTHERS?
I’m not looking for sympathy with this answer, but it was the first thing that came to my mind so I’m going with it.
I am not affected by the knowledge or emotions that come with having children. Yes, I have two awesome step-kids who I had a hand in raising, but I have not had the experience of having my own children or raising children from when they were babies.
If I think dwell on it for too long, it does make me sad from an emotional perspective even though from a logical perspective, I know that there are much worse things to have to deal with and I have a very full, rich and blessed life with Paul.
I feel out of place in most social settings because of this, namely because pretty much every woman over the age of 30 has children. I know those numbers are decreasing now, but in the circles I run in, that is what most women are discussing and for most of the subjects, I can’t relate. It can feel very isolating at times, but I know that my life is my life for a reason and having children of my own wasn’t a part of the plan.
DO YOU DO ANYTHING TO ENSURE YOU GET A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP?
I have been extremely blessed to be a person who normally gets a relatively good nights sleep. I fall asleep quickly and while I roll back and forth a bit during the night, I don't usually wake up and stay awake unless I have something troubling or worrisome on my mind.
That being said, I do try to instill good habits to ensure a better night sleep. I do notice that nights when I don't look at my phone right before bed or IN bed, I usually sleep better. Cooling down my body temperature before bed is also a good practice. I know it's good not to eat at least 2-3 hours before you go to sleep but I'm not as good at that one....I try but fail often.
I do find that as I'm getting older my body is just more sore in general. My shoulder hurts often and I think it's because I'm a side sleeper and so I'm laying on it a lot. My hips often start to hurt as well when I'm sleeping so I need to turn over often to avoid the pain. I'm sure some of that is weight related, which of course I'm always trying to work on, but overall, I feel very blessed to get the amount of sleep that I currently do.
The subject of sleep fascinates me and I've read a couple of books on the subject. It is the one thing that doctors simply do not have explanation for just how beneficial it is for the body. We need it desperately and so many things will go wrong if we deny ourselves a good, restful night of sleep.
WHAT IS YOUR MAIN SOURCE OF STRESS RELIEF?
The only time I really truly feel stressed is if I'm encountering a problematic situation for which there is no clear solution or resolution. I am uncomfortable with being "in-limbo". Often, when I'm stressed about something, I look for ways to resolve or settle the situation as soon as possible so I don't have to be in limbo any longer. If for some reason that is not possible, I will usually walk myself through worst possible scenarios (evaluating the likelihood of each) and oddly enough, that will lower my stress levels. If I'm still feeling stressed, distraction is usually my next go to. I will go to the movies or try to read a book to get lost in something else. Sleep is also a good distraction, although usually if I'm stressed, sleep won't come as easy.
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WILL ALWAYS DEFEND?
I have a pie in the sky answer and also a more probably realistic answer. Which would you like first? Let's go with the latter.
I don't feel like I'm that great about defending anything really. I dislike conflict, I like to impress people (mainly by making them feel good about themselves), and I will avoid arguments or debates unless I feel extremely versed on the subject matter. That approach doesn't lend itself to a lot of options to "defend" things. I also am very pragmatic and can often see/understand both sides of an argument even though I might agree strongly with one side. Because of that I often don't find myself "defending" my beliefs, because I can see the other side even though I may disagree.
My pie in the sky answer is that I would like to say that I will always defend my faith. I have a very strong belief in Christianity and I deeply hold that the teachings of Jesus found in the Bible are true. I believe that there is a God of the universe, that he created earth and everything in it, he created man and woman in his image and that he sent his son Jesus to earth as a sacrifice so that we (sinners) can be rectified in order to be in relationship with a perfect and holy God.
For those who don't believe any of that, I know it must sound crazy. But of course, just believing something doesn't make it true. I could say that I believe that the earth is flat but that doesn't make it true. There is evidence to the contrary but I have also never seen the earth from space with my own two eyes, so in a sense my belief that the earth is round (to me) is still just a belief.
My belief in God, Jesus and Christianity is similar. There is lots of evidence that Jesus did exist in history and there is lots of other evidence that the truth spelled out in Gods word is just that...true...but no one is able to prove undeniably that it is all 100% true. Just like no one can also prove undeniably that it is all 100% false. But I do believe the evidence leans more towards the truth presented in the Bible and I would like to say that I will always defend that. Now, Peter walked with Jesus and denied him three times because he feared death...so if it came to that I don't honestly know what I would do. But I do know that I am forgiven, I am being sanctified and no matter what happens on this earth, I will be spending an eternity in heaven. There is a lot of comfort and peace in knowing that.
WHO IS SOMEONE YOU WILL ALWAYS DEFEND?
I don't really know how to answer this question...like a person I know? Or just in general? I wouldn't say I would ALWAYS defend a particular person because if they are guilty of something, then they might not deserve to be defended. So in a more general sense, I might say that I would always want to defend the innocent. It's better for 100 guilty persons go free, than one innocent person suffer wrongly.
