A practice in documenting growth in a way that feels good to me :)
I'm becoming many things these days, one being a strong proponent of documentation.
Not just any documentation. Not just this blog as a form of documentation. Nor Instagram stories or even the scrapbook that I'm behind on updating.
Documenting something very specific: growth.
A lot of folks probably already do this in the form of progress pictures on their fitness journey, perhaps. But even pictures can't tell the full story. Sometimes you have to trace your steps through things beyond what you can see to provide context to what is visible.
That can look like tracking how you feel, what you hear yourself saying, what kinds of experiences you've been having, or anything else along those lines. And then when strung together, it can turn out to be a very useful and beautiful visualization of just how far you've come.
Allow me to introduce to you just 3 things I'm getting better at.
I suppose one could say I'm on a "fitness journey" at the moment, but that doesn't feel especially appropriate because I don't have a specific end in sight. I'd say I'm just moving my body in ways that feel good and that are contributing to a healthier, more mobile me. And in all of this, I've been getting particularly good at listening to my body when it tells me what I need.
Just this past week, I only exercised twice: a rowing class and a light 4-mile kayaking trip on the Catawba River. I reduced my schedule to this because my body told me last week that it was time to stop for a while after a 1.5-hour, 6-mile kayaking trip on the Niagara River that left my right hip sore and me limping through Buffalo International Airport. (It was still fun, though. #NoRagrets)
With my regularly scheduled 6 workouts per week in mind, I was at first a bit upset with myself that I couldn't just bounce back immediately into my regular routine after such a strenuous workout. But as I found myself laying in bed on a weekday evening instead of in Lagree class, I realized that my body was right. I absolutely needed a break.
To keep pushing and going and asking my body to drive to its limit day after day for weeks on end with only one day per week to recover was not a healthy decision. And my body informed me of such. And I listened.
Now I feel much better and way more capable of knocking this week's workouts out. I'll be sure to pay more attention and be a bit more proactive about rest in the future.
Dearest reader, if you knew the things September has thrown at me?? Then you'd knowwww God is good cuz baby it's been a MONTH, ok??? A MONTH.
But the only reason I can stand at the end of it, as I say goodbye to my favorite season and dig out the sweatshirts, is because I have gotten SO much better at LETTING THINGS GO.
And truthfully, some things are a bit more difficult than others, but I've noticed an acute improvement in my ability to process an experience, document what happened, reflect on how I felt, identify the lesson in it all, determine the solution or the best way forward, and move on.
I no longer spend days and days with things on my spirit. I acknowledge it in the way that feels most appropriate at the moment and keep it pushing. Whatever consequences that come later can be dealt with later, but they don't have to be troubled over now. And that is a blessing. The better I get at this, the better my quality of life is. The better I can let things go, the more open I can be to what's next. That, friends, is a really great place to be.
It's one thing to let things go and not linger on a situation for a long time, but it's an entirely different skill to be able to actively nurture optimism after you let something go. To let go and then move on with joy.
For example, I recently had a few very disappointing dating experiences. And while on its face, so many of these experiences would lead anyone to feel pretty discouraged about dating, I've gotten so much better at actively choosing optimism. Actively choosing to move in hopeful expectation that at some point, I will no longer have these disappointing experiences.
Same thing with my home buying journey. The Fed increased interest rates AGAIN last week by another 0.75%. And while that news was very discouraging, I still hang around Zillow and Redfin sometimes. I still add things to my home decor Pinterest board. I'm still saving and planning because I am moving in hopeful expectation that at some point, interest rates will be in the right place for me to buy my home.
And sometimes it's difficult, but it really just requires a constant reminder to myself that just because it's not here doesn't mean it's not on the way andddddd that in the meantime, I WILL STILL BE OKAY. Good things are still happening. Joy is still going to come in the morning. Life is still being lived. Fun will still be had. And I've been getting SOOOOOO much better at making sure this is front and center in how I'm living my life.
Cuz regardless, we goin' have a good time.
Cheers to documenting growth, y'all! <3
