5 minutes to relax

These days finding time to relax is hard.  Finding time is hard, to tell you the truth.  I have obviously taken on a lot this fall and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can handle it all.  And handle it all well.  I know that there will be sacrifices - like Friday night football games, hanging out with my sis and her fam, getting coffee with friends, movie dates, etc. - but hopefully all those things will be there when I finish my obligations.  My friends won't give up on me after just two months of being "too busy" to do anything, will they? 

Here's an example.  Last night on the bus home my friend Sarah texted me and asked if I wanted to go for fro-yo tonight.  I LOVE fro-yo.  However, tonight I have track until 7:30pm and then I really need to get home and cook some dinner for the hubs and me.  So she said, how about Thursday?  Hmm, I have to run 5 miles on Thursday so I can't really fit in fro-yo then either.  I replied asking about Saturday and she said that was fine, unless I could do Friday.  Nope, I have class on Friday.  So, in all reality, the only free days I have each week are Tuesdays and Saturday afternoons.  And they aren't really free because I should be STUDYING those days.  Bummer. 

But I signed up for all these things for a reason and every reason was important to me at the time (and still is):
*work - must work, not really an option
*marathon - running in memory of my Uncle, wouldn't change that for the world
*anatomy - need this to apply to nursing school, something I've dreamed about for a long time
*golf - we desperately kind of need the extra money and I normally enjoy coaching the little golfers
*husband - must nurture and take care of him because I love him dearly

See, I can't drop any of those things??  They are all very important to me.  Golf ends in eight weeks, the marathon ends in eight weeks and then things will be a little more survivable.  I just have to get there!

What is my spot of happiness you might be wondering?

This:

So cozy!!

After my long run on Monday I had a small bit of time to ice my legs (it was only 8 miles so I didn't have to do a full-on ice bath), drink multiple cups of coffee, read my book Little Bee by Chris Cleave, and watch a bit of NCIS.  Ok, I admit it, NCIS totally sucked me in because it was an NCIS marathon and they kept going and going and going.  I probably would have stayed in that beanbag all day except my hubsters came home and reminded me how much cooking I had to get done for the big BBQ we were having.

But I enjoyed many minutes of this:

There are not many things better than a good book, a beanbag, and a coffee.

And it was pure bliss. 

And that is what I'm thinking about as I'm working, studying, running, coaching, or any of the other million things that have taken over my life. 

Five minutes of relaxation is all I need to completely revitalize myself!

How do you relax??