The flood of thoughts and emotions that seem to swirl within my mind come on me suddenly at times. In other times it’s a gradual trickle that collect in a shimmering pool, boiling up from beneath. This pool seems serene from the outside, but within, the turmoil is amassing into a tempest.

Yesterday was the day the pool came to a boil.

Last week was challenging. My daughter had surgery on her arm on Wednesday, requiring 6 hours of driving and a day of waiting. Blessedly, my absolute faith in our perfect healer, God, calmed any fretting I may have had for safety during her procedure. Two days later, I returned to Anchorage on my own (another 6 hours of driving) for the second half of the ablation to address my now omnipresent back pain. My tension was through the roof and my pain severe during and after the procedure. That night I did a shopping trip, made dinner and our family celebrated my son’s birthday. The next day I threw a party for my son and his friends.

Because my daughter had just had surgery and my husband had been working every day that week, I attempted to do most of the work on the house and party preparations myself. This was a mistake. I was incredibly stressed.

During this time, I was busy at work and falling behind on my two online classes (I’m pursuing my bachelors in nursing.)

The stress of the week and weekend built up until two days ago I began to feel flustered and overwhelmed.

Then yesterday came the storm. My emotions began to become jumbled; one minute I feel like crying, the next I was angry. I was tired and feeling the need to be busy, yet unable to focus on a single task to completion. My goals for the day seemed insurmountable to the point where I found myself standing in a room not remembering why I was there. It was so incredibly frustrating, and completely unproductive.

At last I conceded to the need for sleep. I prayed briefly, even that required more concentration than I could muster. And I slept well.

Today I awoke refreshed and feeling focused. Instead of pushing myself at the gym, I went for a walk. The storm has passed, thankfully quickly. And now I am grateful.