The Trick is To Keep Breathing #100daysofwriting

I've had a really productive day today including making several phone calls that have been on my to do list for a couple of weeks. Most of them had very positive outcomes too which made me wonder why I'd put them off. I also had a very brief but interesting meeting (luckily they came to me) and was in the bureau this afternoon, it was quiet but nonstop.

After three very productive days which came immediately after a late night I'm definitely flagging now. And with that has disappeared my motivation for writing. Today is the first day in a couple of weeks (I think) that I've not wanted to write though. I think an afternoon nap may well play a prominent part in my day tomorrow.

I'm well aware that there is a book with the same title as this. It's a very good book, I read it at the end of January. It's very different to this piece but I highly recommend it.

Day 54 of 100

The Trick is To Keep Breathing

Sitting down he took a deep breath. That helped but he still felt like he had a big mess of tension just inside his head trying to claw it's way out of his ears.

He wanted some painkillers but a glance at the clock showed that there were still three hours until he could reach for the paracetamol once again. Safe to say that the dose he'd already taken hadn't worked then, so he was stuck with deep breathing.

Taking another deep breath and then another he despaired of he pain ever disappearing.

Then the idea of using ice came to him. It usually helped a little just not as much as good old fashioned paracetamol. A look in the freezer however showed that he'd used the last of the ice packs earlier. Back to the deep breathing then.

He kept taking those deep breaths. Slowing them down, trying holding them briefly before breathing out and varying things a little. The circular breathing technique his mum swore by was something he'd not tried before. He'd dismissed the idea because it seemed weird but cursing the fact he'd forgotten to order a repeat prescription and so had run out of his codeine he gave in and tried it out.

Time passed.

The in through the nose out through the mouth circular breathing sounded like it should be easy but he found he had to concentrate on it.

Once he had it he lost himself in the rhythm.

And slowly, without him realising it the tension gently ebbed away.

His mother had been

♥ Emma