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Wait, I’m sorry, I heard “Complete all the projects!” – not “Breathe.”

Our home right now is buzzing with projects. Currently, we’re putting together a playset for my kids (which has made us the coolest parents ever), while also putting in a new section of fence by said playset. The fence that came with our home is not only the saddest thing you’ve ever seen – but it seriously gnaws at my HGTV-watching brain as something to get fixed because it’s so unsightly. Not only is it just plain hideous, but it’s also too short to manage two growing St. Bernard pups and their inquisitive nature. I literally caught both of them standing on their hind legs staring at people out walking one day. I knew it was time to pull the trigger on the project – they aren’t going to get any smaller, and that fence wasn’t going to last much longer.

The fence project just happened to coincide with the playset project and – voila! – a weekend project marathon ensued (to my husband’s lack of glee at all the work). Don’t get me wrong, I had been planning, budgeting, designing and totally overthinking this project for a few months now, along with some others, so I was ready to get it started, done and crossed off our “to-do” list.

Side note: I’m a list person, and there’s no better feeling than crossing things off THE list. Plus, I like accomplishing. Plus, plus, I’m a second-generation list maker, so this should surprise no one. You should see my father’s list-making and project-accomplishing abilities. Now THAT is some master level execution there…and, he’s calm about it too. Again, another ability I haven’t mastered. Just a few days ago, my father – the wonderful list-sage he is – said, “You don’t need to complete everything at once. Pick one thing, get it done and then move on to the next.” I’d like to say I graciously accepted his advice, but I didn’t/haven’t.

This leads me to my smartwatch. Not only was my dad telling me to chill with the project and life-tenacity speed (up next is to finish another section of fence, cut trees, put up a barn-esque storage shed, covert the one side of the garage into an office – and the list goes on and on), but my watch has been increasingly telling me to breathe. Who has time for that? And what is up with my watch? Listen here, watch, this girl functions on 10,000 BEU+C (Breck Energy Units + Coffee…I totally just made that up!) and nobody has time to breathe. I don’t “feel” stressed out, so I don’t need to chill, right? Wrong. Even overly-tenacious, creative people need a breather. I literally just learned today that those smartwatch breathing prompts aren’t random, but tied to your heartrate. Apparently my watch is looking out for me?

Breck Obermeyer, Yakima, WA – Breck Obermeyer is a Community Liaison with Health Alliance Northwest, serving Yakima County. She’s a small town girl from Naches and has a great husband who can fix anything and three kids who are her world.
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