Have You Never Been Mellow?

When it comes to music I have several guilty pleasures, one of which is Olivia Newton John.  Does anyone out there remember Xanadu?  One of my favorite movies from my teen years but I'm terrified to go back and re-watch it.  I'm sure it's one of those things that are better in your memory than reality.

One of my favorite Olivia songs is Have You Never Been Mellow.  I'm not sure if I'm the audience or the speaker as I feel like this song was especially written for me.  Let me tell you, I'm anything but mellow and sometimes it catches up with me.

A few years ago I took the Strength Finders test, Achiever is my number two strength.  Knowing that I scored high in Achiever explains a lot.  According to Strength Finders, Achievers have a great deal of stamina and work hard, they must accomplish something every day to feel good about themselves.  Sometimes having high Achiever is not a good thing.  It drives me to set unrealistic expectations for myself and to never be satisfied with my accomplishments.  I struggle to relax and enjoy life.  I put myself last, not because I don't think I'm worth putting myself first but because I view the sea of unfinished work out there and cannot relax until it's complete.  I am sometimes judgemental of people who don't have my need to achieve.  Not very positive traits I'm afraid to admit

Here's what happens to me.  I go full steam ahead for so long and then I hit the proverbial wall.  After a full day of cooking and cleaning on Saturday (which started at 5am) I had a total breakdown.  My poor husband really didn't know what hit him.  Then on Sunday I started getting sick.  Because I don't take good care of myself I tend to get hit hard when I catch the bug.  I was down Sunday night, all day Monday and all day Tuesday. Didn't get anything accomplished, unless letting the dryer repair man in the door before collapsing on the couch counts as 'accomplishing' stuff.

I don't have the answer, but here's what I do know.  Life is to short to work yourself to death.  Hitting the wall and laying on the couch for two days doesn't do anyone any good.  I need to find some kind of balance between my need to accomplish and my need to slow down.

It would help if we could afford to hire an Alice or a Mr. French.  If only :)

 
Have You Never Been Mellow

There was a time when I was in a hurry as you are
I was like you
There was a day when I just had to tell my point of view
I was like you
Now I don't mean to make you frown
No, I just want you to slow down

Have you never been mellow?
Have you never tried to find a comfort from inside you?
Have you never been happy just to hear your song?
Have you never let someone else be strong?

Running around as you do with your head up in the clouds
I was like you
Never had time to lay back, kick your shoes off, close your eyes
I was like you
Now you're not hard to understand
You need someone to take your hand

How do you keep yourself mellow?

I'll be linking this up over at We are THAT Family