The Secret Ingredient

For months, I've been pretty convinced that old age had finally caught up with me.

I didn't want to cook, didn't have energy to clean. I didn't want to travel, was secretly relieved when plans cancelled. I couldn't stay awake during movies and laying around in pajamas sounded won-der-ful.

On December 30, I figured out what was really going on.

I was tired. 

Because I had an abundance of about-to-lose-them vacation days at work (the result of a large project that prevented taking time off), I took holiday from December 22, 2014 - January 4, 2015.

But it took me a full nine days to get relaxed.

NINE DAYS.

I woke up December 30th feeling like I wanted to clean the house. And read some new cookbooks that I'd bought months earlier. And do craft projects. And window shop. And eat lunch with friends and talk about silly things and find humor in odd things again.

It was weird - and weirdly reassuring.

Nothing was wrong with me that a little concentrated time sleeping, petting kitties and decompressing couldn't fix.

So the challenge, of course, is to not get quite so depleted in 2015. That's a goal that's easier held than achieved, but I think the effort is well worth it.

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