It Was A Good Day

I’m driving home this weekend for my 10K and there’s not really a good radio station between here and there. I decided to create a new playlist for the car ride. This one is called Hippity Hoppity Favorites. It’s got a variety of artists on there like B.o.B., Wale, CeeLo Green, Kanye, Outkast, Nas, and more. I tried to find the edited version for most songs because I can’t really tolerate a lot of profanity these days, but there are songs where the edited version just doesn’t do it justice. Like Eminem’s “Mockingbird” or Kanye’s “Ultralight Beam”. But then there are others like Wale’s “Illest B****” that need to be edited. Unfortunately, Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day” didn’t make the playlist. I didn’t listen to him much growing up. I had this friend though who would walk around campus and listen to his song every time she had a good day. Today was a good day for me.

Before going to work, I decided to set aside a few minutes to do a breathing exercise. It’s called “the 3-minute breathing space”. Basically you dedicate one minute to focus on the following: awareness, gathering, and expanding. It was an opportunity for me to start my day with a clear mind and to reconnect with the present moment instead of all the things that I had to accomplish. Today was a very important day for me so I needed those few minutes to gather and expand my awareness.

Each academic year a student success advisory committee meets to discuss trending issues of academic success, whether we’re meeting students needs, and if not then new ideas that will allow us to address their needs and concerns. You know what else is discussed during this meeting? The performance and accomplishments of the center that I manage and supervise. I created a thirteen page report that outlined all of the progress and results made by my team and I during these last nine months and the goals we have for the next academic year. I presented this data to faculty members and directors of key campus departments. Guess what? They loved i! And they were also able to provide great feedback for how we can move forward. My hard work and long hours don’t go unnoticed like I think the do; it makes me feel good that my colleagues recognize that.

On another note, I also cried today. You’re probably wondering how that’s a good thing. I’m not a fan of crying, especially in public. But during my MBSR class we were sharing about the growth and significant changes that we’ve seen in ourselves since the first week. I’m not much of a talker in that class. I prefer to hide in the shadows and listen to my classmates, but this morning I made a commitment to myself that I was going to let my guard down and be honest. So today when I told my classmates that I admired their strength and dedication to the practice despite what personal things they may be enduring in their own lives, I got a little emotional. The tears just started flowing. No idea where they came from. I told them that their courage to share and to be consistence with their practice inspired me. Like I wrote in one of my previous posts, maybe I needed to see someone else become transformed before I can be transformed myself.

For dinner today I had a protein smoothie. It had a lot of fruit, two types of protein powders, flaxseed, fiber, and a little unsweetened almond milk. Sadly, there were no veggies because I ate them all. I haven’t made a smoothie in almost two weeks and I’m pretty sure I’m not getting enough protein. I should probably go to the doctor’s office and have a routine checkup because I definitely haven’t had one of those in a few years. (Also another good thing that happened today! I think I found a reputable physician in my insurance network.)

After being on campus for about twelve hours, I hyped myself up to exercise when I got home. Because the 10K is only three days away and because I ran on Monday and Tuesday, I didn’t want to run today and risk overdoing it. Instead I chose to go to my trusted online fitness channel for support, Pop Sugar. I did this 30-Minute Body Workout for Beginners with Lacey Stone (she’s hilarious by the way). Yeah, I’m definitely a beginner. I’m slowly getting back into running shape, but running and strength conditioning engage two very different muscle groups. My legs are sore. No pain no gain, right?

After some of the days that I had last week, today was worth it. It was much-needed.