Nature continues to provide me with plenty of stress relief. But the stress of the past couple of months is taking a toll on my physical health. I've been sick more than usual, picking up the random viruses that I'm seeing in my clinic, even with the usual precautions. I've been losing a lot of hair. I've been feeling really fatigued the past couple of weeks, struggling both with motivation and movement. I'm finding that I have to push myself to get out the door for my runs and workouts. And instead of feeling energized when I'm done, I feel tired. My Oura ring keeps sending me alerts. I've been dialing things back a bit to give my body some grace.
To try to keep my peace, I've taken a break from talking with my father, instead, leaning more on the care manager to check in with him and make sure things are going well. The caregivers are doing their best to keep her safe. I did speak with him this week, and it went ok. He won't be happy until he gets what he wants, which is a return to life before my mom's fall. That's not going to happen.
I never thought that my life would be like this; that my parents would act like children, that I would be in charge of keeping them safe, and that they would push back like teenagers. I thought I had gone through all that when my oldest son rebelled in high school. Who knew?
