I have a Kindle that my dear husband got me a few years ago.  I totally love it, and read anywhere from 5-10 books a month on it.  Every once in a while I will read one of my actual paper books I have.

This month I finished my Kindle books early, so I decided to go through a series I really like, reading each paper book in order.  (Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Vorkosigan” series)  I can’t put these books down!  This is a series I have read — at least 3 times all the way through.  I can’t remember exactly.  I know what’s coming.  I know the dialogue.  There are no surprises.  And yet — I can’t seem to put these books down!

Is it the actual tactile thing of holding a paper book in my hand?  Needing a light to read, since I can’t rely on a backlit screen?  Turning actual pages instead of tapping a screen?  I am not sure what.  But I am enjoying these books just as much as the first time I’ve read them.  Books are books, but sometimes a book can be more enjoyable in a different format.

I haven’t been feeling well recently.  Normally I am a very healthy person; I rarely get sick.  But I really did feel awful, off and on for months. Then in August I began to feel really bad.  Bad enough that I went to the doctor, which is rare for me.

Many, many tests and procedures later, I have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome.  I am not happy about this, but it is what it is.  In educating myself about this condition, I realized I have had it for a long time, and it didn’t just “pop up” as I first thought.

As a woman, it is pretty normal for me to just keep on.  Feel tired?  Feel lousy?  Just keep pushing!  Come on, don’t be a wimp!  There is work to be done!  I am used to being the one to do things, to get things done. I rely on God and myself, not others. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.  Does this sound familiar?

My body had been telling me to take care of it, and I hadn’t been listening.  Or, I listened but didn’t do anything about it.  And, I really can’t do that anymore.  I don’t ever want to get a bad flare up like I had in August again.  So I am having to slow down some.  I am having to say “Yes” to myself sometimes instead of always “No”.  I need to be better at relaxing.

So, recently I took myself out to breakfast.  I went to a live play.  I booked a couple of days in a small cottage in a place I have never been before.  All those things cost money, but not a great deal of money.  I’ve changed the way I eat, and what I eat. And I’ve lost weight.

I’ve been praying that I can be a good steward of all God gives me. That includes this body.  At my age you would think I would have learned these things and have already been taking better care of my body.  But, again as a woman, I am much better at taking care of others than I am of myself.