Help?
Yesterday I got a (figurative) gold star from my physical therapist. If she handed out real gold stars, I’d be doing even better. I’m very sticker motivated.
I know have 100% range of motion. However, she worked me hard yesterday. I was too exhausted/sore to do my walk last night, and ended up skipping weights last night due to the sore. I am, however, walking tonight and yoga-ing tomorrow, so I’m only missing ONE day of cardio. Hopefully my goals will forgive me.
I am starting to get nervous about January. January is going to suck. I will mostly likely be working full-time in January, which is unfortunate, because that has traditionally been the month I needed 3-day weekends the most. Every day, another January project gets dumped on me, and then I cry a little. But only on the inside.
I do really enjoy my job. And my boss. And most of my co-workers. I love my office and I love working in a hospital, because it makes going to the doctor very easy, and sometimes I share elevators with people who’ve recently had transplants – and that’s just cool.
I am going to have to be very careful to remember to take time for myself, once January rolls around. It’s easy to get caught up in the stress of work, and before you know it you’re chowing through the bowl of fun-size candy bars, sneaking out for smoke breaks (although not at my work – we’re smoke free), skipping yoga & not having enough time to run. January, with its never-ending dark is hard enough without making time for the healthy stress relievers.
I guess it’s good that I can plan for this. When I used to work in international relief/development as a fundraiser, I couldn’t plan for the stressful times. Between December 2004 & October 2005, there were three very large disasters: the Indonesian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and a huge earthquake in Pakistan. There was no planning for that. No planning for the fact that I almost missed my own New Year’s Eve party because I was at work. No planning for the long hours and canceled vacation in the wake of the hurricane. And although we did a number of good things (more or less, but I’m not here to say bad things about former employers, no matter how deserved), and I wasn’t left dead, or homeless, or bereft, it wasn’t so much for me. Too much stress makes me go blind (no, seriously, I went blind one day at work when processing tsunami donations). I am a planner (the architect is rolling his eyes at that understatement) and I need a plan.
I don’t need it quite yet – although the next 5 weeks will be a practice run for January – but I will need something in place before the dark is really here. I need coping mechanisms and reminders to take a break, to go for a quick run, and to step away from the candy (that I don’t even really like anyway).
So, even though I’m only now slowly getting back into a cardio routine, I need to keep it going. And tell me – how do you prepare for periods of great busy? What coping mechanisms do you employ that don’t involve Parliament Lights & Peanut Butter Soy Delicious non-dairy frozen dessert (I hate, hate, hate this lactose intolerance thing)? Help a girl out (‘cause if you don’t, I’ll talk about politics some more).
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