Variations and Accomplishments

Ahhh - what a fabulous day!

After I got the girls off to school, Chrissy and I were off to our hike.  Emily couldn't meet us so early, so we were going to meet her up there.  She's so much speedier than we are, we figured she could catch up to us and we could all go back down together.  Today was interesting because we didn't push ourselves as hard.  We were actually able to carry on a conversation and we weren't heaving!  We also didn't stop as often or for as long as we had been.  My goal for today was positive thoughts and words.  I've realized that almost everyone that we've invited on this journey is more fit than I am.  I've been joking that "I'm the weakest link."  Although this is probably a true statement (least in shape, slowest, etc.) I think I should be verbalizing it differently.  Chrissy suggested "I'm NOT the weakest link" or "I WON'T BE the weakest link".  They're both good, but I'm looking for something else - I just can't figure out what.

The second thing I wanted to be more positive about was what I call a "can do" attitude.  I preach it all the time to my daughter, so it was surprising that I don't do it myself.  My problem is that I have a very sarcastic sense of humor.  Therefore when I see what seems to be a huge, steep group of rock stairs, I think, "You've GOT to be kidding me.  I can't do this.  This is crazy!  Who was the idiot that thought up this idea?"  Oh yeah - oops - that was me!  Last Saturday, I had several different times when my legs had had enough and I felt, thought and said out loud, "I don't think I can do this".  Today I was taking a different approach and although I haven't figured out the perfect words for "the weakest link", I did manage to take charge of my legs. 

There were only two times that they felt like I was hiking up quicksand, but this time instead of saying, "Holy Cow!"  I said, "I got this!  I got this!  I got this!"  Yes, I heard a little bit of George Lopez in my head.  Yes, I could hear Erica saying, "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this" - like she does when she's trying to be brave.  And yes, maybe it wasn't too bad because we weren't pushing as hard.  But I gotta tell ya - it worked.  Instead of the "trudging" lasting minutes on end, it almost immediately went away.

Now in order to make good time on Grays in July, I am going to have to push myself a bit and improve my time some, but it was really nice today going a bit slower - a bit steadier.  We both enjoyed the view.  We both wondered which takes longer.  Is it true that slow and steady wins the race?  In general, I do believe that the journey is the reward.  But I also don't want to get caught in a rainstorm on Grays if we take to long.  So some days I will push and some I'll take it a bit slower.  Variety really is the spice of life!

By the way - we did meet up with Emily, but she was making such good time that she wanted to keep going and see if she could improve on her time it takes her to get to the top.  She did it!!!  Her record was 55 minutes and she got it down to 49!  Woo-Hoo!!!  You go girl!

As for the rest of my day, I'm certainly making progress.  First of all, I wasn't completely wiped out from the hike.  Yes, I'm sure if I had laid down I would've fallen asleep.  The good news is that I didn't lay down!  I kept moving.  I worked, I got some of the storage room reorganized, some of the basement cleaned up (with help) and some work done in my office.  There are so many days that I feel like I just want (or need) to crawl back in bed because I'm so tired or overwhelmed.  Then again, there are days like today.  Days when you don't lay down, you push through and at the end of the day, you can see your accomplishments and be proud of yourself for what you have done.  I need to hold onto this feeling - and tap into it when the desire to curl up in the cherry chair and do nothing!

And if you're lucky, you get to end your day with a little treat for yourself --- like watching old episodes of Happy Days, the latest Harry Potter flick and a hysterical bit on Who's Line is it Anyway with Richard Simmons.  Life is good, people.  Let's see what I can accomplish tomorrow.....