Fall in New Hampshire

The last few weeks of work have been pretty rough. It seems that every time I get the hang of a certain process, or complete a project, three new tasks are given to me. Almost every day I'd come home from work exhausted, with no energy to climb or go to my yoga classes. At first, I kind of beat myself up mentally about skipping out on my activities – in a way, I almost tried to bully myself into getting out of the house.

But then I realized I was putting way too much pressure on myself – pressure to improve at work, to improve my rock climbing and yoga, improve my diet, and improve my blog, all while maintaining my work relationships and outside friendships. It was too much. For the first time in a long time, it hit me that I'm human, and I have limits. I can't do everything all the time, as much as I'd like to. And by trying to improve on so many things at the same time, I was mentally exhausting myself to the point where I wasn't enjoying those activities anymore because I was expecting too much from myself.

I'm in the process of learning a very valuable lesson from this: Do what you can. Accept your limits, and never stop loving yourself for needing the time to rest.

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This past weekend, I went to my parents' house in New Hampshire with my boyfriend, Ryan. It was an escape in the truest sense of the word – we escaped from work, from city life, from stress and from complications. Our weekend wasn't particularly exciting or adventurous; it was quiet and relaxing and it was exactly what I needed.

Ryan and I got lunch at my favorite spot in Vermont, and ended up eating it by a beautiful river behind the store. The river was down a steep ravine, but we climbed down anyway to be near the water.

I love venturing off the beaten path with Ryan. When I was younger, I'd go off and explore in the woods by myself all the time, climbing on trees, jumping in puddles, and setting up "forts" for myself with fallen branches and leaves. Now that I'm a "grown-up" (at least technically), it's so meaningful to me to do the same things with Ryan as I did when I was a child. I feel incredibly at peace in the woods.

We spent the next morning doing a puzzle over fresh coffee, and pumpkin pancakes with local maple syrup. It was the most relaxing morning I'd had in months. 

It was an absolutely perfect weekend, and I'm so grateful that I got to spend it with someone I love.  

:)