For the month of January, I’ve committed to posting every day, having accepted the 30-day challenge.
This is day 16 of 30.
It’s been a busy Saturday, and I’ve been thinking on what to post and haven’t really come up with anything motivating or enlightening or even mildly entertaining. There are days like this, you know? I’ve had a good day, ticked several things off my task list, but it’s just a normal, run-of-the-mill Saturday.
Woke up lazily — what a luxury! — Belle going into a full stretch beside me, both of us deciding that it was time to start the day. I bundled up and Belle and I went outside for a quick walk, which is her choice, not mine, necessarily.
Then I did some work and play on the computer for about an hour to wake up my brain since my body was already up. By a little before 9am, I was ready to start moving. Put on my magic carpet ride capris and headed downstairs to the treadmill. The treadmill computer’s workout of the day was a 1.57 mile run around a lake in Slovenia — it wasn’t the mileage I wanted, but I find it so hard to pass up these one-time random courses that come up.
So, I ran with it (heh… I’m punny) and decided to make the workout interesting by abandoning my now tried-and-true run/walk intervals for a straight run. Slow and steady wins the race. Or finishes the rather short lake path. One or the other. But – I did it – no walking involved. Four years ago I would have laughed at this being a big thing for me, but now? I recognize the work that it’s taken me to get to this point. It might not be fast, it might not look pretty, but it’s progress.
After sweating out buckets, I cleaned up and had a little more time, so I dove into the second chapter of Daring Greatly, which is part of next week’s assignment. With Brene’s words bouncing around my brain, I took Belle out for another walk and then fed her. And with that, I was out the door.
Put some much-needed gas in the car and then got a much-more-needed car wash. My pretty black car was white with salt and grit and while it’s still not clean, it at least doesn’t have an all-around crusty coating that seems to get on every piece of clothing I wear. It’s kind of like bike grease in that way; I can’t get near it without it coming off on me.
And now I’m ready to run my errands. A stop at the grocery store to get food for the week, one of those things that I’d rather not do, but I have to anyway. Then a quick checkup at the doctors — another thing I’d rather not do but it goes quickly and without drama. And then I’m on my way home. Turn on the oven and pop a container of pasta in for dinner. Walk Belle. Feed Belle. Read some more, turn on the TV to have the football game on in the background and then start this blog post. See? Nothing too interesting to say, right?
But it’s all about hustle — the ordinary hustle of an ordinary day. I could have done nothing but sit on my butt all day. I could have opted to stay in bed. I didn’t need to adult today. But hustle, I did.
I got this little pocket stone to remind me of my word for the year. It knocks around next to my Fitbit, reminding me where my focus should be. It reminds me that I’m happier when I’m productive. Reminds me that sweat not only makes my skin glow, it makes my soul glow. That overcoming inertia is worth it in so many little and big ways.
If you are interested in your own pocket stone or other motivational stuff, I bought this at Soul Mantras. I love what I got and many things in her store look amazing, but I don’t know her and I don’t get any kickback from you buying something. This is just a thumbs up from a happy customer.