Tuesday, July 5, 2011

How To Work Off Worry

I've had a hard day. I'm talking the kind of day where it squeezed every ounce of sunshine, lollipops and high fructose sweet out of me!  Oy vey!

How bad you ask?  This was an instant message to a work buddy:
Me: Sucky moment thoughts-->the leprechaun, the fairy,Easter bunny and Santa have all gone on strike. the leprechaun is suing mother nature for discriminating against the vertically challenged. The fairy is suing  because she has to wear a dress and long hair when all she wants to do is go...you know. The Easter bunny is in a class action lawsuit with P.I.T.A. for mistreatment of animals (aka bunny mills) and Santa....well he's sitting pretty. Only has to work one day a week. The other 364 are spent eating an American diet, no exercise, getting fat and getting all the credit for hard working parents all over the world.
Me:... but I'm not bitter....

Me: ...and this crazy life goes on...

I don't want to go into detail because I promised myself that today would not be the day to try and iron it all out. Today was the day I would allow myself to just be annoyed and that's it.  I did. I had to go home for a bit (which brought on more annoying discoveries) and then went back to work.  And sadly enough, work was what I needed to turn it around.  I found so much to laugh about that it made my problems seem just a little bit smaller.  This was good. 

When I got home, my husband gave me a big hug and held on.  This was also good.  But then he said something that made me feel even better. He said, 'We need to go work off this worry.'  Well hells bells if this wasn't what I had decided before I left work. That was my plan all along.  So, after a small meal, we put on our shoes and hit the dusty, 100 degree trail. We walked 4 miles and sweat like crazy. Just as we were making our way back in the direction of home, he said something that seriously made my heart drop.  He said, 'From here we go to the gym and workout about 20 minutes more.'  I say my heart dropped because I was mentally and physically tired and wanted nothing more than to go home, shower and lounge on the sofa. I swore to him that I had nothing left to give.  He said I could just watch him.  Hm....

Obviously, I didn't get to do that. My competitive self wouldn't allow it.  So straight off the gravel trail, we dragged our sweaty and dusty bodies to the gym.  I did the dreaded elliptical for 15 minutes and then rocked a free weights workout for 15 minutes more.  I was spent but damned if I felt better than I had all day.  The man was right! This workout brought clarity.  It helped me realize that I am bigger than my problems. I can always do more than I think and the pain of that workout was real but the feeling of accomplishment was out of this world!

Now, I get to lay it down and get my mind ready to tackle my problems tomorrow. I do think I am in a much better place for finding solutions.  Goodnight!

Quote for the Day:

Ninety percent of the world’s woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties, and even their real virtues. Most of us go almost all the way through life as complete strangers to ourselves.

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