Trying to Live Sanely Amongst the Chaos

Today is Wednesday, March 14th and in a short moment, I will be going to the gym for the 3rd straight day.

Now, don’t be fooled! This was no easy feat! But I’m not going to do another half marathon with little to no training. Training is essential and I’m committed to it being one of my priorities. In my non-Interweb world, I constantly preach about evaluating one’s priorities and that one makes time for one’s priorities and not to make excuses. If you want to do something, you’ll do it. You will make the time for it. No excuses!!

So here’s how this week went down. (Don’t worry; I will try not to bore  you with too many details.) Bottomline (aka Cliff’s Notes if you don’t feel like reading more): There’s always going to be some disruption from being healthy or exercising or making you a priority. Instead of succumbing to the temptation, remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and do it. No excuses!

Sunday: A great day, a relaxing day, a productive day. I did 2 loads of laundry, washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. I even made a small dent in that closet cleaning I told you about in my “About Me” section. I went to the market and bought food for my meals for the week. Highlight: I made some Irish Stout Chicken with Guinness beer and a small side salad with shaved Irish White Cheddar Cheese (Recipe to follow, I promise!). The hubby said that it was good enough to be put on a restaurant menu! Bam! How you like them apples? We were heading off to such a beautiful week, we were. Then…

Monday: I was emailing a girlfriend  and telling her that I was feeling pretty good about the week. It would be busy, but not the madness that was about to begin. Then, almost instantly after I hit the “send” button on that email, the week started. New Escrows, Escrow closings, Loan Docs, Fundings , 1099s. In other words, madness. I don’t even think I ate lunch…Actually, yup, I in fact did not get to eat lunch. But this wasn’t going to stop me from attending my 1st yoga class in a year. I was supposed to have “make up” GG Night on this night, but only AFTER I went to yoga, which my girlfriend Kuu partook wtih me. *NB: Do not do yoga when your body’s only running on water, fruit and snacks. You won’t function in general, but much less when doing yoga.* Yoga was great! We treated ourselves to sushi at one of my fave spots, a decision with which Tuesday morning and my stomach did not agree.

http://maketheworldyourstage.com/category/stress-reducer/

Tuesday: Or as I’d like to call it, the day from hell, started off with a head on collision between my stomach and its contents from the night before. Fun times! By the time I finally made it into work, I had no clue what hit me. It was madness x 10! But, even amongst it all, there were some really good moments, including but not limited to:

1) I met with 2 sets of awesome clients (They made my day!),

2) This time I had lunch, albeit oatmeal with blueberries and strawberries with 1 egg cooked in a microwave, all of which took me about 3 hours to finish between work, and

3) getting to speak with an Uncle and Aunt (This Uncle walked me down the aisle in our wedding last year and my Aunt is one of the sweetest, on-point persons you’ll meet. Plus, she knows how and when to say the things you need to hear right at the perfect moment 🙂 ).

But I digress…So at 7:30pm, my last set of clients left the office and I started making copies of the work for today. I was incredibly bummed and irritated since I was really looking forward to my first ever pilates class and then maybe a 3-5 mile run and finishing it off with some sauna time. (Ahh, the sauna.) At 8:45 or so, I decided that I could easily stay at work until midnight. But I wasn’t going to do that to myself, not to my mind or to my body. So I packed my things and took the 6 flights of stairs (Yup, I take the stairs now!) down to my car, where I realized I needed gas.

Bahh! You see, by now, I was super tired and just wanted to get home, plop myself on the couch and relax to some T.V. My first excuse to not go to the gym was being disgruntled and grouchy. Then, gas!?? Yes, it would take only 10 minutes. But it’d be 9pm by the time I got to the gym which closes at 10p. What kind of a workout would that be? A short, but worth it one, that’s what. So I marched on to the gym, literally second guessing my decision to do so for each block that I drove on the mile and half drive there. And, I managed a 30 minute walk/jog and 10 minute sauna time. It was just what I needed. On my way home when I called my Mamita who was hanging out with my Uncle and Aunt, I got to talk to them. Victory! But the uber-Victory was making it to the market to get a grilled veggie wrap as my dinner last night and 2 ready made salads for today and Thursday.

I’m no dummy. I could delude myself into thinking that I am Wonder Woman and will bring all my veggies with me and take the time to make one of my awesome salads. But that wasn’t going to happen! So I bought ready-made healthy stuff and made a bee-line straight to the checkout before I got lost in the sea of chips, dips and other items that would expand my hips!

This time, today, I had my banana and hot tea for breakfast (Fear not about there being a smoothie missing), I ate my chinese chicken salad, and then for an early supper, I made one of my smoothies! 1/2 c. blueberries, 1 c. chopped strawberries, 3/4 c. oatmeal, 1 c. almond milk, 1 Tblsp almond butter with flaxseed and ice. Voila! 20 seconds later I had a tasty smoothie. Would I have preferred an In-n-Out burger? Absolutely! But is that what my body needed as positive fuel before a workout? No. Not today at least.

So even though my assistant left early for doctors’ appointments and the madness got worse (of course!) and at times, I didn’t want to be so nice and professional, I knew I just had to plug on and focus on getting the day over with while fueling my body with something healthy. Have I finished all my work? Nope, I could stay here again until midnight. And, do I really want to just go home and plop on the couch? Ohh, G-d, yes! Am I going to though? No way! It’s time for the gym and sauna!

Besides I’ll be back tomorrow before 7:30am to get an earlier start on the day. And, with my ready-made salad and fruits for snacks, I know I can tackle whatever is thrown my way. Some wise words from my coworker, Sal, “We make our own stress and it gets us sick. Don’t let yourself do that! Stress is just B.S.!” So don’t let the B.S. get to you and find your sanity within the insanity you may find yourself, whether it’s the gym, yoga, painting, writing or cooking!