The weekend is here

I don't know about you, but for me weekends come with a mixed blessing. More time for relaxation, time for me, catch up on housework and time to pretend I am still me. Yes I do mean time to pretend to be me. So much has been absorbed in my roles, loving wife, caring parent, devoted caregiver, obedient daughter, supportive friend, that by the weekend I am empty. I have lost whatever it is that makes me, me. How is it that I can find myself surrounded by so much need? How is it that those around me can feel they have the license to suck the very essence of me and feel they don't have to replace it?

Dark, huh? I thought so too. So once again, I put on the brakes and think. Okay, you feel a little used, a little empty, so what are you going to do to fix it? It is not anyone else's responsibility to refill my tanks or refresh my batteries, it is my job to take care of me. Now if I don't feel up to it there is a trick, FAKE IT. If you fake it enough or long enough it will become real. So on those days, that it is all too much, I pretend and soon enough my smile becomes genuine, the laughter is not quite so forced and things begin to get easier. The trick is to hang in there and fake it long enough for it to be real.