I'm been so busy getting my jewelry business off the ground...long hours, late nights. It's all been so exciting, truly a labor of love. When you have your own business that's mostly online, there are not really any "normal business hours." I'm a bit of a night owl anyway, and there have been far too many nights lately where I don't hit the sack until 1 or 2 AM only to hit the ground running again at 7 AM. Here is a new piece I just finished:
Normally, skating is a great way for me to deal with stress. I've come to count on this regular exercise to keep my mind calm, my moods happy, and my energy level high.
Last Saturday after too many late nights in a row, I woke up in a funk. The weather had turned cold, I had a bit of a sinus headache, and I just felt blah...not just body blah, but mentally blah as well. Full-blown funkiness. I didn't really feel like skating, but I made myself go anyway. I was hoping it would lift my spirits and put me back on track.
Because the weather felt so chilly, I even got out my silly snowman socks to at least give my feet a chuckle:
I managed a short 30-minute skate on the Lafayette Moraga trail, usually one of my favorite skates. Here's my view of St. Mary's College as I skate:
Besides the view, the uphill sections are usually just the thing to get my endorphins cranking, the downhills just exciting enough to give myself a bit of an adrenaline rush. A hilly skate is usually just the thing to turn a funky mood around. But not this time.
So, if skating wasn't going to banish the funk, what would? I tried the following:
• a nap
• a night out with friends Liz and Scott at Prima in Walnut Creek (a belated thank you for them rescuing us from a jam when we were out of town in the spring)
• quarreling with my daughter (haha...didn't really think this would work, but somehow that's where we ended up!)
• a friend's light-hearted incantation attempting to banish the funk
• meditating
Everything helped a little bit, but nothing quite eliminated that dark-cloud-over-my-head feeling. What to do? Where were the negative thoughts coming from? Why was my inner critic (I call him "Joey Nickels") screaming so loudly while my inner goddess ("NamiZuni") wasn't uttering a peep?
Finally, I stopped trying to fight it. As soon as I did that I realized that I had just been pushing my body to do too much with too little sleep for too many days in a row. A large part of me was just physically exhausted and it was showing up in my mood. I gave up on fighting the bad mood and realized that it was just my body's way of saying, "Um, hello...you're not really doing so hot at taking care of me right now...how about paying attention?"
Once I realized the source of my funk, I realized that I could interpret it a different way. I didn't need to give the negative thoughts any real weight. No cosmic significance to the negative chatter, just my body trying to tell me what it needed.
Sunday morning I woke up with a fresh new outlook. Sunday morning yoga class with husband Marty, hanging out at Starbucks with our favorite "stalkers" Marie and Ken, and a fun family dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant, Swagat in Concord.
The next day when I hit the trail in Moraga, I was skating with a new attitude. It's funny how when your attitude is positive, all sorts of guidance, wisdom, and even entertainment comes your way. Here is a picture of the wild exercise shoes a woman was "running" on the trail with:
They are called "Kangoo Jumps" and look like running on the moon. They looked so fun, they made me laugh. I think I might need to get a pair for a change of pace from skating. Thank you, stranger, who let me photograph you in your cool footwear!
Keep skating! (But don't forget the other self-care as well.)
Nancie ♥
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