Maybe it’s the brief thaw in the weather or the fact my vacation is only a week away, but I am in a better mood than I have been, even though my to-do list is a mile long and there are plenty of reasons not to be.
I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day!
Choosing To Be Fabulous
Whenever I’m having a tough week, I know taking a Peloton class with Jess Sims will give me a pep talk and a workout at the same time. In a class I took this week she talked about her approach to answering the question “How are you?” Instead of saying “Fine,” she is answering, “I am choosing to be _____” (happy, grateful, calm). She said that phrasing reminds her that she has a choice in how to respond to whatever is going on, and that choosing to respond positively even in some little way can be empowering. She draws a line between how she reacts to something unwelcome—that initial negativity is natural—versus how she responds to it. I think choosing a positive outlook when things are not going well also is a way of recognizing that things are not ideal.
Choosing to be fabulous may be a bit over the top, but the hyperbole fits my ironic sense of humor. So, this week I am choosing to be fabulous, even though I have no idea how I’m going to get all my work done before my vacation!
Weekly Run Down
Objectively speaking, this was quite a week. Sunday I was on standy-by to take my Mom to the ER for lingering GI issues that were causing concern. She made it through the day, but ended up having my husband take her to get checkout out on Monday. (I had a big thing at work I couldn’t miss.) Luckily all the major tests came back fine and she’s getting better. Tuesday I served as a volunteer elections officer which I enjoy, but it is a very.long.day. Throughout all this I’ve been juggling a crush of work deadlines. All my clients seem to want everything done by “the end of the month”—when I plan to be skiing! 🎿
Sunday: I did a 5 min core class before going to church and that was it for the day. 🤷♀️
Monday: I missed the Super Burn classes on Sunday, but took Hannah’s run on Monday—it had a great playlist and solid format. She’s a UK instructor but has some sort of gig with the Minnesota Vikings—I’m guessing her purple top was deliberate!
Tuesday: I had to leave my house at 4:30 am and didn’t head home until 8:30 pm. I was exhausted from a long day of cheerfully helping people vote, but remembered to take a 10 min Peloton class when I got home—one of Matty’s evening stretches—and it felt good.
There’s a lot of set-up to do before 6 am, and “closing the polls” is a whole process. We didn’t have any discrepancies, but there were only 4 of us so it took a while to go through all the steps in teams of 2.
Wednesday: I woke up to temps in the upper 40s and took Scooby for a walk for the first time in ages! I had walk in the street to get around lingering snowcrete in a few places, but it felt good to be outside.
Thursday: It was colder but still warm enough for a walk. I opted for an upper-body strength class and then hopped on the treadmill with Jess Sims and took another long stretch class with Matty.
Friday: I haven’t taken a bootcamp class in a while, but knew Jess’s Destiny’s Child class would be good.
Look at all the badges!
Saturday: I was eyeing Matt + Christian’s 120 minute ride, but decided to save it for a weekend when I don’t have to work. I opted for Christian’s threshold ride, and found it tough.
After a long warm-up, the first block was 3 min of zone 3 + 4 min of zone 4 (meant to be a threshold pace). The second block was my favorite with alternating minutes of zone 3/zone 4. The last block was the hardest with 6 min at zone 4 and one min at zone 5. I dipped down into zone 3 a few times when I shouldn’t have!
I’ll have to take it again and see if I can hit the target metrics.
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
How are you doing? 😉
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
It was so nice to have those warmer temps the last few days! Now we just need this mess to melt. I do believe you can manifest your mood to some extent and choose to be positive or dwell on negative aspects.
Standby mode on Sunday with your mum must have been so stressful! That waiting feeling is exhausting even when nothing dramatic happens. Then Monday clashing with work plans…uff.
Thank goodness your husband could step in and take her. Retired spouse for the win!
You’ll crush that to-do list and glide straight into your ski holiday, Coco!
I’m always so grateful to the election volunteers because I know it’s a long, hard day! You were definitely fabulous this week.
Nice week of workouts in the midst of your busy schedule. Glad you were able to get out for some Scooby walks! I’m sure all the dogs up north are happier this week.
Hang in there- your vacation is coming right up!
Nice job getting it all in despite being so busy. And yay for getting outside with Scooby! We had some warmer than usual weather this week finally and it was SO nice to be outside again after a LONG hiatus. Hope the weather continues to stay warm for at least a little while!
Kudos to you for working at the elections. That’s a long day! I think the snow should be pretty good for your ski trip. Hopefully you can get everything taken care of so it will be a relaxing trip for you with nothing back at the office to bother you. Glad to hear your Mom is feeling better and that the tests came back good. I bet that was stressful, but so glad your husband was able to help out. Gold star for him! 🙂
Yay for your ski vacation being right around the corner! I can understand how that has you in a better mood!
I have not taken any of those longer rides with Matt or Christian yet, but my husband loves them!
That is such a great mindset to have. It’s so easy to respond with being upset, exhausted, overwhelmed or whatever but yes, we always have a choice to focus on the positive side of things and that usually makes a difference to how we really feel, at least that’s my experience.
How nice to get outdoors with Scooby after all the cold weather! I hope your mother keeps improving, and enjoy your skiing trip!
I can relate to having a tough week-that was me a week ago. I was so overwhelmed with my to do list, and I had no idea how I would get it all done. Since I don’t have Peloton, I didn’t have a pep talk with Jess Sims, but I put my head down and tackled everything I needed to get done. What a great feeling! I hope you feel fabulous and ready to go on your trip!
I totally agree that a positive mindset works miracles…for us AND for those we come in contact with. Glad to hear your mother is doing better! Good luck getting everything done before you hit the slopes 😉
I’m glad you’re in better spirits!
Closing the polls with only four people sounds pretty stressful! Is everything going smoothly? I’m waiting to be called back in for training. They’re going to ask me if I want to be one of the supervisors, and I’m not at all interested. I’ll do the work, but I don’t want to be in charge!