Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Snapdragon's For Vienna

Anybody out there struggling?


I have had a few conversations lately, and I know I'm not the only one. The only one who feels overwhelmed by all the To Do Lists, the never ending pile of laundry, the day to day grind of have to do's.....

But it's not even about that stuff, really. It is an inner thing. I have a tendency to struggle with anxiety at times, a sense of urgency in my being that I know is not rational. It is as though my body feels there's an emergency happening, even though I can think it through and know that the world will not end if I don't do the dishes immediately. Then it gets worse if I look around and assume I'm the only one feeling this way, everybody else is cool calm and collected. I decide I am not coping, what is wrong with me? I ruminate, why can other people breeze through this thing called daily life and I feel on the verge of screaming and/or crying? Then I try pretending I feel cool calm and collected, you know, like everbody else but this gets draining and exhausting. The 'not coping' feeling is magnified significantly by keeping it my little secret. Well, Matt and the kids cop the snapping and low tolerance, so it's not really a secret. This is where a meltdown needs to happen. The tears flow and I confess my struggle, and boy is this therapeutic. My body can finally be free of the tension, it's out. Perspective comes as I share, a renewed sense of hope.


Stress, anxiety, fear, and any other debilitating feeling loses alot of its power just by letting others know about it. Reaching out helps us realise that it is a myth that no body else feels like this. Robin Worthington says that "the battle to keep up appearances unnecessarily,the mask-whatever name you give creeping perfectionism-robs us of our energies."
The paradox is, that by me telling you that I am stressed and anxious, I reduce my anxiety. By you telling me that you struggle at times too, I feel connected and know that I am not alone. We are all in this together.






Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Let the Children Come

I apologise for the blurry photo of The Story Tree's Play and Read area, but you get the gist I hope. In here you will find board books for 0-3year olds, such as Eric Carle's classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar , which is 40 years old this year. We also stock a range of Mem Fox, everybody knows Possum Magic! Where is the Green Sheep? is great for bed time reading with 1 year olds, as is her latest award-winning Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes. Graeme Base has a beautiful boardbook The Waterhole, a very simple adaptation of the original book for primary age students.
Our local Boonah Library has friday morning storytelling, for anyone wanting to take the littlies along to. We have plans for storytelling here at The Story Tree over the school holidays, so stay tuned for more info....





Monday, August 10, 2009

Cookies: Bite-Size Life Lessons

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is an inspiration. I am going to be stocking her books, starting with Spoon, Cookies: Bite-Size lessons and Encyclopaedia of an Ordinary Life.