Overwhelmed & Tired : Thoughts on Friendship

This weekend, wedding season starts. I will be up to my ears in white tulle and beautiful images that need to be edited. In my opinion, its the most wonderful time of the year. Obviously, that’s why I’m a wedding photographer.

This week has brought some unexpected circumstances for our families. Car accidents, sickness, and a boat load of emotions. We are so grateful everyone is safe, and healthy. But sometimes, when it rains, it pours. You know?

My first reaction when life gets a little crazy is to clear stuff out of the schedule. To cancel all of the things that I can, in order to make some space to breathe.

But this week, I didn’t.

And you know what?

I am so grateful.

Monday & Tuesday evenings, we spent time with our friends. We ate dinner together, laughed about hilarious stories, and crawled into bed way past our bedtimes.

While we were driving home last night, Kyle and I were just talking about how grateful we were for time with our friends. Even in the midst of a busy, and somewhat crazy week, it felt like a break. It felt like a pause, in a good way, from all that had been going on.

We have said this over and over since being married.

We never regret being tired in the morning, if the reason we are tired is because we were spending time with people.

Because it’s a different kind of tired. You know what I mean?

It’s not the kind of tired where you can’t function. It’s the kind of tired that goes away after your first cup of coffee and leaves you laughing about the hilarious conversations from the night before. It’s a kind of tired that makes your heart full. It makes you feel grateful, for the hours you got to spend with the people in your life. It’s the kind of tired I want to be. Tired because I am so grateful to have friendships that are deep, that are lasting, and that feel like bright spots in the middle of dark days.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I can almost guarantee that it isn’t because you have been spending so much time with your best friends. It might be because work has gotten out of control, or the laundry won’t fold itself, or that your bank account doesn’t have enough money in it to cover the bills. Those are the things that make life overwhelming. I get it. You are normal. You are working through it. So am I, let’s high five.

But in the midst of all of that, can you take a night and spend it with the people you love the most? Even though it feels like you have NO extra time, can you take a night to sit around your dining room table, or on your living room floor, or in the middle of Chipotle, and just breathe for a second? Can you tell them what’s overwhelming you and let them tell you over and over again that you are doing great. That it’s going to get better. That you are strong enough to make it through?

I think you’ll probably crawl into bed with a big smile…

 feeling loved, feeling less overwhelmed, and feeling grateful that you have such good people.

I know that’s what I do.