Yesterday we learned that lots of rest for extreme stress is important, not sleep, but rest. Of course sleep is important but we were forced to rest a lot more because there were not a lot of things to do in the evening and we were in a strange land and didn't know how safe it was to go out in the evenings.
I am not one to have a great fear of the dark and so one evening I suggested we go out instead of going to bed. So go out we did. Other people were out walking and the evening air was warm and so refreshing, we just really enjoyed our evening walks. There was usually a cool breeze along with it. So that ended our going to bed real early, we still got to bed around 8 or so, so we were still getting plenty of rest and still getting out among other people. There was no crime there so it was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the cool evenings.
On this Island, there were lots of outdoor shops and indoor ones too, and the shop owners or workers would hound us to buy. After about a week there they saw that when we did buy something it was something we were looking for and they got helpful in helping us find what we were looking for and they seem to understand that we weren't just frivolously buying and enjoyed talking to us as we went by, and sometimes we would stop and chat, my daughter loved to try to learn spanish so she could chat with them. We had taken a spanish course together years ago and I had learned that I could understand it better than speak it and she was learning to speak it so it worked out that sometimes when she didn't understand what they were saying, I did, but she could talk to them a little and I couldn't. So we learned that learning is a great way to relieve stress, try learning something new, like a hobby of some sort or another language that might come in handy where you live.
Another thing we did, was relax on the beach, sunbathing was a great way to relax and get lots of vitamin D. We came home pretty brown, but I have to say that the sun there was a lot more intense than I have ever felt before and I have been lots of places where they have very warm summers, but the intensity of the sun there felt like it was blistering me, I found out that she didn't feel that at all so guess it was just me because I never got burned and neither did she. But just relaxing in the sun was very healing. Sometimes we would just lay in the sun by the pool and relax but she enjoyed the beach more. The sand was hard for me to walk in but we made it most of the time together, once in a while she got brave and went for walks alone but only a couple of times. There was always no problems.
So exercise, learning something new and sunshine are great healers for stress. There are still some more very important things that we learned while there that I want to share with you but you will have to wait until tomorrow for a couple more real important ones. Until then, I'm so glad to be back and have time to visit with you each day and have the strength to do it. Grandma Joan
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