I won’t lie – I have kind of been dreading writing this post. To prioritize my health, I’ve had to really cut back on what I do right now, and focus on getting enough rest. In the day-to-day, I can handle it, and it doesn’t really feel that bad. But when I have to look over the past month and see it retrospectively… it’s a little bit harder to come to grips with. I know this won’t be forever, but it’s just frustrating in the now, while it’s happening.

Basically, that means this month’s post will be a little bit shorter. I will save you from blurry pictures of The X-Files as seen from my bed, and instead share with you the (few) things that I did do.

I think I may have shared this picture in one of my Friday Favorites posts, but I”m not sure! At the end of September, my work had a big (research) conference on caregiving. We also included two “family perspectives” sessions, and my mom and I got to talk about our experiences during one of those sessions. It’s pretty cool that my personal and professional life are aligned – it’s exciting to be able to share my life experiences with researchers and practitioners, to help them understand the non-research, non-academic side of caregiving a little better. And I’m so glad that my work values my lived experiences, too.

The trees don’t look this green anymore – the leaves are changing colors and falling – but we had some truly beautiful days in October. Just look at how blue that sky is! I want to bottle this feeling and save it to enjoy in the coming months when everything looks a lot more gray.

I did make it out to see Frozen when it made it’s tour stop here in Pittsburgh – I’m so glad that I was feeling up to it. I really needed something to look forward to, and a Disney musical absolutely did the trick. The show was so much fun – they did a great job making it enjoyable both for kids and adults, and they added extra songs so it felt like it wasn’t just a stage copy of the movie. It was really sweet to see all of the little kids there, too – one girl near my seat excitedly yelled back Olaf the snowman during one of the songs. It was just a great night out!

I’m saving you from the TV in bed pictures, but will end with this one reading in bed picture! Forced rest isn’t quite as enjoyable as non-forced rest – I love relaxing, but it’s not always as fun when it feels like I’m giving up other things that I want to be doing! So I try to make it feel as luxurious as possible – a cozy blanket, a good book, and dimmed lighting. Anything that makes it feel relaxing rather than required helps me feel a little bit better about the whole thing!