We made it! Dad has recovered enough from surgery to lift the toddler. The toddler has recovered enough from his cold to only need medicine overnight. I actually got a chance to take the REAL cold medicine last night. You know, the kind that not only cures all your cold symptoms but also knocks you out. Even if the symptoms were to somehow to break through, you still sleep like the dead.

The laundry and dishes were done over the last week and a half, but everything else took a backseat. You can actually see the path our toddler takes from one place to another. It looks like a little tornado meandered through our house on multiple occasions. Am I going to clean it up today? Maybe, but probably not. Today is the day for a victory lap! It’s time to celebrate making it through this most recent family challenge. I’m going to have coffee with a friend for at least an hour or two while Dad cuddles the little man.

It might sound like I’m neglecting the housework, but this is what’s actually going to happen. The laundry and dishes will still get done because completing them is something I do without thinking about it at this point. It takes no mental energy whatsoever. Since Dad can entertain the baby, I’ll de-clutter while they play together. After I get home from going out with a friend, I’ll look around and realize the house would look nicer if I vacuumed and mopped, so I will.

Knowing this about myself allows me to completely ignore any anxiety or stress related to how much of a mess the house looks right now. It’s going to get cleaned up. When I do it I’ll probably be thinking about my next blog post, wondering what’s going on with Twitter, or how my Facebook friends whose children are admitted are holding up. Maybe I’ll be brainstorming ways to get the word out about my book. I do believe it’ll help people, but it can’t help anyone if they don’t know it exists.

I’ve been trying all morning to think of how best to explain the skill I’m trying to share. The best way is probably that I trust myself. I trust that I’m going to take care of whatever needs to get done, and if I miss something it will be for good reason. I trust I can take breaks responsibly and still return to my responsibilities in a reasonable amount of time. I have complete confidence in my ability to get our home back in order. If it takes more than today, then it was because it was necessary. Thinking about it any other way would only add to the stress that’s been building for the last week and a half. It doesn’t make sense because the entire point is to get back to normal and eliminate the feeling of crisis. Instead, I get to look forward to coffee!

How do you recover from extremely stressful situations like the one we just went through? Do you have anything you take care of it without thinking about it?