Liberating Reflexivity

Made it home yesterday after a whole (work) week abroad. It felt liberating. From everything. I even allowed myself many treats. Staying with relatives and on top of that being involved in intense socializing with academia isn't exactly the place where I determine the ingredients on my plate. Coping strategy? As long as it wasn't wheat (or candy), it passed. It meant me eating rye bread (delicious!), vanilla ice cream, gluten free pizza (!) and to top it all off: a nice kebab + french fries lunch on Friday (this was my first real junk food in more than a year, I blame the previous night's dinner for that). Oh, and a lot of coffee. Didn't feel like the food affected me a whole lot. I hade much more muscle cramps than normal though (blaming the coffee) and ironically enough today my normal breakfast had me off balance for half a day.

Still, I had some strategies that DID work. Like my avocado/egg breacky on the morning plane. Or my two morning runs in a lovely park next to the place I was staying at. Or focusing on the topping of my glutenfree pizza when dining out at an Italian place with ONLY pasta and pizza on the menu. Or my snack on hazelnuts, dark chocolates and an apple (and wine and water) while my fellow colleagues enjoyed a Burger King meal at the airport yesterday evening (didn't really feel like another french fries plate on the same day...).

Except for this, this week has been liberating in more than one dimension. It has got me out of my home office bubble, given me the opportunity to debate ideas with people with similar ideas and this has led to a major leap in my work progress. Unbelievable really. But sometimes magic happens - even on abstract levels.

At home, hubby has kept the feeding business going. I've understood the kids have been behaving well and eating well (how do they do that? the fathers, I mean. How do they manage to avoid conflicts?!?!). Well, this just strengthened my conviction that I really need to liberate myself more often. It's good for all of us.

Next week, I'll be back in charge as hubby goes on another business trip for the whole week. Kind of practical from the perspective of the usage of our one and only car! And I'll be working my ass off again, day and night. So good for my adrenals...Well, one think I've learned this week is that it is all about reflexivity, being aware and reflecting upon it, it's the first step towards action (read on adrenals here: How to tell if your adrenals are fatigued)... so maybe one day I'll do something about it, hopefully before it is too late.

To hint a bit what is going on in my head after this week, I end by quoting Kennedy, yes the president:
 

“For the greatest enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”