It started when my son was born. He woke up at 7am every morning on the dot so if I wanted to work out or be showered and dressed before he woke up, I had to get up, I had to have a plan.
I started waking up at 5am and working out to exercise tapes for 45 minutes to an hour. I knew the routines by heart so I didn’t need too much volume. After my workout, I’d take a shower and be dressed before he woke up.
Was it my FAVORITE time back then? Probably not, but it started the day off right and this habit was born. 33 years later I have the alarm set Monday through Friday for 5:15. I have my coffee and then go and work out. On weekends, if I’m feeling awake, I’ll get up and just drink coffee and relax and read.
It’s quiet, it’s peaceful. When I walk outside to go to my workout next door, I see the moon or the sky getting lighter. I look at my flowers or just admire the yard. No one’s around, no lights are on and it’s just me.
Was it because I was worried about my niece? Did the Barbie movie I went to on Saturday fire me up? Or, was it the movie bag of Ike & Mikes I ate while watching the movie?
Whatever the case, it was fortunate for us both that my husband went for a motorcycle ride because while I was home alone, I was just in such a mood. Little things set me off like, “I CAN’T BELIEVE HE THREW OUT THE WATER BOTTLE THAT GOES WITH THIS HIKING FANNY PACK THAT I HAVEN’T USED IN FIVE YEARS AND I HAVE A CAMEL BAK THAT HE BOUGHT ME ANYWAY” or “I CAN’T BELIEVE THERE IS NO GROCERY MONEY LEFT IN THE DRAWER WE KEEP THE EXTRA IN BECAUSE I HAVE TO BUY SOME THINGS HE WON’T GO TO WALMART FOR!”
It was insane. Our poor dog who was already roaming the house looking for my husband as he always does, was looking at me like I had lost my mind.
So I took myself out for a nice long walk. I set my Peloton app to record it, I found a Spotify walking playlist (remembering to download it first), put on my work out clothes and just walked for and our on a simple route around town. Boy, did that help!
It cleared my mind, and maybe it got the rest of that sugar from the Ike & Mike’s out of my body. Whatever the case, by the time he got home from his ride, I was feeling like my better self again.
I had to think about what emotion I feel the most these days and it would have to be contentment. I usually relate everything to our business and my work there and this is no exception! For many years our remodeling business has been consuming because I oversee the operation of it. Clients, financials, and social media – three jobs that can be full time on their own.
Our office assistant of the last 1-1/2 years has taken over all of our customer service from the start of the project pricing phase, right on through to completion and that has given me the chance to BREATHE and really do what I want to do which is social media. Of course, I still have to do the financials and I can’t say I’m 100% gone from the customer aspect but 95% of it. I can now focus on setting up the path for success for our son as he takes over.
That has also given me the opportunity to leave the office before 5, go in after 8:30, take an afternoon off for some spa time and boy, when you can start thinking about yourself – what a world of difference it makes.
If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?
My decision to bring back one dinosaur would be based on – who’s going to hurt us the least?! Those crazy T-Rexs or running, screaming bird-like things were a little to scary and wily in Jurassic Park for me!
I had to do a little google search for an answer. I found that this Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum which is a Sauropod. It has the longest neck of all of them!
If their necks are far enough away from our heads….??
It bothers me that I procrastinate doing things that I enjoy – writing, creating social media posts, reading – until I have all my “chores” done. Chores that can be done any time!
In fact, as I was typing this, I jumped up to put away the dishes on the drying pad and washed what was in the sink. My thinking was, I have to get ready for work. But I’m an owner! I don’t have a time I have to be at work! I could have sat there as long as I wanted to finish this.
Shower thoughts. We’ve all got them right? Here’s mine from today….
I want to send a thank you card to a remodel company owner and staff who hosted an open house when I was in Ann Arbor Michigan last week. Actually, it was in my reminders for Monday, but life and that “jump into routine” mode got in the way. Hence, me thinking about it in the shower!
His name is Jef. Short and sweet. But where’s the customary second F? Was he born Jef? Jefrey? Jeffrey shortened and dropped the second F? So many thoughts none of which turned into actual questions!
That lead me down the rabbit hole to vowels, consonants and what happens when you put them together.
We learn in elementary school that a vowel followed by 2 consonants will give the vowel a short sound. But a vowel followed by one consonant gives it a long sound. Right?
I started going down the list of names in my family. Nancy – the A has the NC before the Y. Cool. But Janice only has the C between the I and E which signals a long I. JanIce. Hmm what’s up with that?
Steven – gives a long E but Stephen? Well, that’s pronounced the same but shouldn’t because of the PH!
Mark – no surprise, Cody – the same, but what’s up with E-m-I-l-y! No wonder words are hard for a beginner!
My first item of business today will be my thank you card to Jef!
I finally got around to reading one of my Real Simple magazines that have been piling up. It was the September 2022 issue. I got halfway through and then it ended up under my instructions for a scarf I’m knitting. I decided to finish it because nothing gets thrown out until I’ve at least glanced through it. And that’s when I found this article…. How to Be Less Busy by Catherine Hong stopped me dead in my tracks.
She started out talking about The Phantom Tollbooth’s Terrible Trivium, who was a “demon of petty tasks and worthless jobs, ogre of wasted effort, and monster of habit”. “if you only do the easy and useless jobs, you’ll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult”.
Wow, that is me! When I’m at the office, I always gravitate to the routine, the easy, the things I can do with my eyes closed. “Must get these done FIRST before I can move on to what I REALLY want to do”, I say to myself. “All of this is much more important than those out-of-the-ordinary projects on my list!”
When I’m at home, I’m always tidying up, always organizing (not cleaning!). On weekends I think I have to get everything done before I relax but when I do relax I pop up like a jack in the box because it feels wrong to sit and relax.
Well, what’s the answer? She has eight suggestions. The first is: “examine the root of your devotion to productivity”.
From the article: “Was your relationship with your parents transactional with their love, attention, or rewards doled out based on your performance rather than your inherent worth? Deep down do you think breaks are for wimps and whiners who aren’t as tough as you? Do you think you haven’t earned the right to take a break? Life experience, culture, and families can instill the desire to overachieve. If we understand where the “toxic productivity” comes from, and create a new story for ourselves where we deserve love and rest, it can help us carve out time for ourselves, unapologetically.”
That is A LOT to unpack! I feel some truth to the transactional relationship, not because they were cold or unfeeling parents, but because I was one of three girls all aged within 18 months of each other. There was the older sister, middle sister, and younger sister. Perhaps our best performances did receive the rewards. I was told by my mother when she came through in a medium reading that “You were always like that”. “That” would be my need to keep everyone and everything under control.
The second suggestion is: “Accept that your to-do list will never be done”. THIS IS ME! My to-do list comes and goes but that In Box? I will get a burst of energy at 4:15pm on Friday afternoon and I am just absolutely determined to clear my inbox before I can walk out that door! I get this ridiculous pit in my stomach while I’m trying to get the work done and out. Block out some time for to-dos and some time for leisure. For my office problem, I think it would be to block out time for to-dos and time for those “special projects” I want to get to but am “too busy” to do!
I’m going to work on those two suggestions but will come back and share some of the remaining suggestions.
A blog I follow has a calendar for the month of May with one small task to complete each day.
May 1st is “Write Your Why”. SUCH A LOADED QUESTION!
I attempted to write it this morning but I didn’t get far. I took it as “Why do you live your life the way you do” and with that, I focused on myself. I described my why about being good to myself, to feel happy mentally and physically. It’s been an effort over the years to quiet my internal critic. I continued to think about it, feeling like maybe I’d lost the Why, because I have spent 35+ years focusing on my husband and son, and the clients in our business.
I googled it this afternoon and ran across a TED Talk by Johnson McDowell. He is a teacher in his 40s with a wife and young son and he was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer. It was caught early enough, a small tumor, and he was able to have Whipple surgery and is now on chemotherapy. He gave a talk, “Know Your Why”.
I was close – because the why is not a thing, the Why are the Who. The Who(s) you get up for every morning, live for, love. They are your spouse, children, parents if you have them still, siblings, and friends you haven’t seen in years. The second Who are the people in your life – in his case students, in my case everyone who makes our business work so well like employees, clients, vendors, and trade partners. That Who can also be myself as I originally wrote!
Now that I know my WHY are all the WHOs in my life, I will work to show them love and kindness. I will reach out to friends and family I have lost touch with. I will be of service to people who need me. Not only will I treat others with love and kindness, I will treat myself with love and kindness because I am definitely part of my why.
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 