Lately I have been living like I’m auditioning for a live-action Cathy cartoon. I’m frazzled, want all the chocolate and, yes, I have said an “ACK” here and there. (It doesn’t help that I also have an extremely round face and a love of blazers. Now that I think about it, maybe I just dye my hair red so that people don’t actually think I am her. Great.)

It’s been an emotionally exhausting month, mostly in a good way, but I’ve been toast nonetheless.

Brody graduated from fifth grade and I was admittedly already struggling with that, but then they went and made him a recipient of the “Impact Award” and I became a puddle. It was nice and sweet and everybody cried. Except Brody. He just wanted to know how quickly we could leave after the ceremony.

The Predators have had a crazy run and are somehow in the Stanley Cup Final and, as Brody said, that has me “acting like a wild beast.” I’ll admit it, I yell, scream, cheer, pace and do an insane amount of fist pumping and jumping around. I also call all the players “baby” for some reason.

I manage to somehow act like a mostly normal fan until the playoffs start and then I lose it. It’s not comfortable or pretty and it’s why we don’t invite friends over to watch the games with us. I also get in loads of trouble with Brody for cussing and I’ve told him he’s just going to have to accept a blanket apology from me at the end of the series because I can’t make any promises about my language right now. (Or, okay, ever.)

Throwing these two emotional juggernauts (you can laugh if you want to, but hockey is a real roller coaster for the McGills) in the mix with life’s usual annoyances like a water leak, a busy work month and the cat needing medical attention and something had to give for at least a few minutes.

And so this past Sunday I found myself doing something I rarely do. I took a real day off. Did I need to do this? No. I have a million things I needed to do in the yard, the deck needs to be painted, my car has enough La Croix cans rolling around in it that I could probably pay it off if I just cashed them in and my laundry room (say it with me) is still a damn disaster. But, did I need to do this? Yes. It was clear that in order to keep doing all the things I need to do, I needed to stop doing them for a day.

This wasn’t a decision I came to easily. I can honestly say I’m horrible at relaxing. My husband can vouch for me. I feel like if I’m not doing something then I’m wasting time and I tense up at the thought of spending a say sitting on the couch, but I had to chill out about chilling out and just do it.

I read a book (Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, so good!), drank a lot of coffee and drew myself an adult coloring page (I guess this is something I do now) during the day and got real girly, slapped on a face mask, painted my nails in Preds colors and had some bubbly wine that night. We even had a nice dinner with my family. It was quite lovely.

For an amateur, it was a pretty impressive amount of relaxation. And, as reluctant as I am to admit it, it must have done some good. I’ve been slightly more cheery and energetic this week and have gotten more done because of it. I don’t see days like this being part of my weekly routine or anything, but it’s also fairly clear that they may need to happen more often than they currently do.