How to Deal with Midlife Changes

Life just has a way of knocking us off our feet sometimes.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're either the luckiest person in the world, or in utter and complete denial.
I've tried denial.
I've tried closing my eyes and plugging my ears and pretending the things around me aren't happening, but I just can't seem to do it for very long.
It seems, eventually, we have to face our worse fears in life. For some darn reason I can't understand, but it seems to me that we have to face ALL of our worse fears in life - at one time.
The garbage disposal doesn't back up until the sink is full of dirty dishes.
If you have a close family member that's ill, there will probably be another one to follow, or your own health might fail. Whoever said, "When it rains, it pours," was living my life.
Probably yours too.
That must be why, in mid life, when our children are teenagers (hard enough), our parents are aging and needy (twice as hard) and our own bodies start doing some insane roller coaster changes that leave us panting, sweating, and up at 4 AM with heart palpations that would impress an out of shape marathon runner and all we were doing, was trying to sleep.
I haven't talk to anyone near my age who doesn't know about the four am wake up calls.
It's when our minds have had enough REM that it's decided to spin through all of the unsolvable problems going on in our lives until we wake up with feelings of doom and dread so strong we're certain the world as we know it will come to an end.
The problem is, it will.
And that scares us to death.
My mom and my mother-in-law are still alive. My husband and I have lost both of our Dads.
I have a daughter in her last year of middle school, a daughter about to start her senior year of high school and two children in college. My future holds a plethora of changes that I simply can't do anything about, nor should I.
Today is NOTHING like tomorrow and goodness knows I can't predict what an hour, a day, a week or a month will bring in the way of life altering changes.
And it seems to be happening at a speed that leaves my head spinning and my heart pounding.
I want to enjoy the ride, but the four am wake up calls don't make it easy.
The hardest thing in the world to do is function without enough rest.
So I did what I do when things seem to be the bleakest.
I prayed.
I prayed for peace of heart and mind.
I prayed that God would help me get a better perspective.
I prayed that God would give me the strength to manage through it all.
So what happens?
I get an answer to my prayer in the form of a horrible sinus infection.
That's is SO like God in my opinion - and one reason I'm sometimes afraid to ask for help.
Goodness knows God has a sense of humor.
WHO else would give you a sinus infection when what you ASKED for was peace of mind and heart and strength to get through.
So I did all I could manage with a horrible sinus infection.
I went to bed and slept.
I took the drugs I needed to get better, and I slept.
I read books, and I slept.
I watched bad TV and I slept.
And the world kept spinning.
Not everything I thought should get done, got done, but it was okay.
And with all that darn sleep . . . I felt better psychologically too.
The world didn't seem so bleak anymore.
Everything's changed, life is evolving, but it's all okay.
All the worries and problems I had before the sinus infection, are still there. In fact I have some even bigger worries that have developed, but I can handle it all a little better, because I am rested.
I took care of myself.
I had no choice.
If you're feeling overwhelmed, I suggest you take a day off, and don't wait for a horrible sinus infection to force you to.
Be good to you.
Sleep.
Meditate.
Mentally visualize a peaceful place and visit it often.
It might not change anything, except you.
But changing you, can change everything.