Monday, August 9, 2010

Piano and Headaches

Lately I have been getting numerous headaches. I rarely get headaches, and usually can pin down the cause for each one (not enough water, not enough sleep, stress, etc.), but the past two weeks have baffled me.

(My son did try to close the back door of our minivan on my head one day, about two weeks ago, but my husband says that it is unlikely to be the cause...)

Anyways, in general, I think it has made me realize that I do have limits, as much as I hate to admit that. And, honestly, I do not want to be an unhappy and/or unhealthy doctor's wife (there are lots of those, apparently, not to mention, x-wives also).

I discussed it with my mom the other day, and she said, "You have to make sure you are doing things that make you happy. Figure out what things make you happy, and do them. No matter what - make time for them."

I thought about that. I do have a few little things I that I know make me happy, and I often do them.

One of them I discovered yesterday. We bought a piano (off of craigslist, of course) a few weeks ago. I played for 10 years when I was younger. When I was 17, I had to decide if I wanted to commit all of my time after school each day to practicing, or if I wanted to continue with the sports teams I was involved with.

I walked away from the piano.

It hurts to even think about that decision now. I loved, loved playing the piano, and had spent countless hours with it. Now it feels like I am learning all over again. I sat down yesterday and started playing. I don't know what my kids were doing. I played and played. And suddenly, I felt the rush - just like I get when I'm gardening or painting - of relaxation, and inner excitement of accomplishing and improving something.

It felt good. I added it to my list of things that make me happy.

4 comments:

Britt-Marie said...

ha. i have a headache right now. maybe I need to work on that too (though I'm pretty sure this one is stress and lack of sleep) you're mom's so smart ;) I'm glad you're playing the piano again.
p.s.
thought you might find this interesting:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/science/03milk.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general

Anonymous said...

I think it is the pain of promising not to buy anything off of craigslist for 2 weeks that has been stressing you out!

Jen said...

Are you still getting up before the sun rises? That would give me a permanent headache. I have fond memories of listening to you and the other older girl cousins playing the piano at Aunt C.'s house :)

Liz said...

Thanks for the article, BM. I forwarded it on to my sister. Love it.
And, sort of yes, to your question Jen. I wake up every morning but then fall asleep whether I want to or not, either before exercising or after, surrounded by kids. The headaches are not as frequent, which makes me think it probably was mostly due to lack of sleep. Thankfully - something I can change!