Being Tired

I haven't written in a while here, partly because we had a friend staying here and then went on a journey, so life has been busy. Also, I have been writing out a series of posts on the book Women and Fatigue. I found it on the dime rack of our library sale shelf and it was a timely find since I have been struggling with tiredness for some time and was ready to make some real changes in how I do things.

Here's the links to the posts I wrote. Taking notes as I read helped me internalize what I was reading. Certainly there is way too much to read there unless you are passionately interested in the subject but I'm putting it here as an easy reference.

Part One: Introduction
Part Two: Pyramid of Levels
Part Three: Diet and Exercise
Part Four: Substances, and Sleep
Part Five: Emotional Stress in Womens' Roles
Part Six: Losses and Grief
Part Seven: Working Conditions
Part Eight: Medical Conditions, and Epilogue

What does this have to do with unschooling? Hmm. I think I'm too tired now to make any connections, though several did come out when I was writing.

Here's one: I think that unschooling is partly about knowing yourself, your strengths and limits, and working realistically from there. Not surrendering to your dark side, but using your knowledge of your own characteristics to build good habits, not to simply fit into images pushed on you from outside. The book was written from a perspective different from mine in several ways, but I rather agree with the point the author made that a lot of female fatigue comes from the huge variety of expectations from society, combined with the fact that this is a period of transition. We struggle to do our best when "what is best" is somewhat unclear. I think the point is to operate from principles and priorities, not simply killing oneself to be perfect in every conceivable sphere from income-earning to homemaking to childrearing.

I fight against the feeling that I am being self-indulgent to work to manage my fatigue, but in fact being conscious of this issue actually helps me do better in keeping it under control, keeping it from making inroads on my life. When I acknowledged it, I could deal with it.

Ideally, I would think unschooling would have much the same goal. Hmm, I see that statement could use some development but I can't seem to get there right now. I spent the morning cleaning the pantry and garage and that seems to have exhausted my organizational abilities for now. Maybe Julie says it better and more positively (HT Amyable)

Remember: joy produces energy, energy produces invested work, invested work produces learning.

Speaking of being tired..... 3 year old version.