Stomach aches in the office

I hurried back from four days away camping near the Truckee River in Northern California.  My usual routine is to unpack the trailer, read my mail, check my messages, take a quick post-travel shower, and then head for the office.

Which I did.

My trips home from the mountains are often marked by the same conversation with my wife--promises that I will pace myself, relax more, learn to say "no", and, generally, not fall back into the busy routine to which I am accustomed, and which she endures.

As I near semi-retirement, I have purposed to be more intentional about my transition from the soothing roar of the majestic ocean or  the quiet murmuring of a mountain stream back into the unwelcome chaos of the office.  It is orderly chaos--our staff and secretaries do an excellent job of keeping things together--but there always is some chaos to sort through, and so it was on Tuesday afternoon.

In the middle of trying to manage preparation for my Haiti trip, scheduling counseling appointments before I leave on Sunday, responding to a few urgent congregational needs, catching up on Hospice work and dealing with a time-consuming computer glitch, I realized I was sick to my stomach.  Abdominal pains and accompanying side effects.

I stopped for a moment of quiet--my secretary was gone and the office was empty--and caught my breath just for a second.

I remembered my conversation with my wife on the way home about pacing myself and relaxing.  And I stopped what i was doing, made a list of what I needed to do the rest of the week, and climbed into my car to drive home.

One of our staff pastors, a physician's assistant, suggested a virus was going around and I probably was one of its victims ( I had some tell-tale signs while camping).

I'm better today--no stomach ache--the mountain of work has diminished to a small manageable pile due to a few "no's:, and, "this is someone else's responsibility" and "maybe in a few weeks", etc.  I realize that the office is not my source of pain.  This week it was a virus. Tuesday afternoon, however, it was my mishandling of stress.

I can have a stomach ache anywhere...even in the mountains.  My goal is not to volunteer for one by trying to do too much in too short a period of time, driven by unrealistic expectations.

It's a good lesson to think about the next time you're sitting by the ocean or near a river.

And then practice it when you get home.