3 Things I Need

It’s 7:54 am and I am sitting on my couch waiting for my coffee to finish brewing. I woke up this morning on my own at about 7:40, and I decided it would be good for me to give in and get up instead of force myself to fall back asleep. That’s what I did yesterday and I ended up sleeping until 10 till Noon. Today though, I have church at 9:45 so the extra sleep would not have been much until my alarm went off, and I figured I would rather use this time to drink a cup of coffee and write. Brian and I have been going to pre-marital counseling, and in the last session we had Andrew asked us what three things we each need to be us. He, for example, said he needs time alone every day as one of his three. I was kind of surprised how quickly mine came to me, but the first thing I said was that I need to write. I need to sit down and gather my thoughts and get them out of me in order to function at an optimal level. Journaling is something that I have always done, and when I don’t do it I notice my life starts to get confusing and my head gets full. Journaling helps me see everything down on paper and helps me in making decisions, realizing things about myself, and realizing things about my work, life, or other people. It’s a very needed tool in my life. The second thing I said was that I need a goal, or something to look forward to. I do great in life when I have something coming up that I’m excited about, whether it’s a wedding, a new job, a trip to the beach, a party, or the circus, I need something to plan for and anticipate. I don’t know why I need that, but having something coming up makes life happier for me.

— coffee is done, be right back—

The third thing I listed was that I need to communicate. I need communication in form of conversations with people on a regular basis. I love sitting down and talking to friends, my mom, or Brian about things that are important to me and hearing about things that are important to them. Without that conversation I don’t feel connected to people and I start to sink into a solitary world where I am lonely and unhappy. Generally I always have people around to converse with though, so the loneliness really doesn’t happen. It’s just something that I can easily recognize that I need. The things that Brian listed were things that I already had picked up on that he needs, except for one. I thought it was good to hear what he said were the main three things he needs to be a functional human, and it felt good for him to know mine. I bet if we had been asked to guess each other’s before we started we would have been pretty close, but counseling is great because we really get to share things that we probably would not have otherwise shared. I ask a lot of questions about things, but I probably would never have asked “So Brian, what three things do you need in life to function at your optimum level?”

It’s 8:14 am now, and I guess I am going to go get ready for church. Have a happy Sunday.