I'd been so focused on things on achieving goals and completing races that I'd forgotten one of the most basic reasons that I run, swim or even cycle (although I'm still working on that one). Yes I do them to keep fit but I also do them because I enjoy them and want to have fun.
The last 6 months I've been beating myself up because I should have been training 6 days a week and although throughout December I managed that in January the weather made getting out and cycling more difficult and I missed some sessions.
In February when I started working at our Malvern office I wasn't able to do the training I needed because of not realising how near the swimming pool was to the hotel and not taking my bike with me (although cycling the roads around Malvern in the dark wasn't something I would have contemplated at the time anyway) left me with just running as an option. With 3 days left when I was back home in Yeovil there was a lot of pressure on me to get complete training sessions.
The closer I've got to the race the more stressed out about it I've become. I know that my fitness levels are at the point where I can complete a race up to half Ironman distance , which I'll be doing next weekend. However, between knowing that I've only done a fraction of the training I needed, breaking my toe and still not being confident enough in my cycling ability, my motivation has taken an enormous dive.
Its not just the race though. There are other things that I've not been doing recently, I've not been going to church on Sunday evenings, partly because my son has stopped going to his group but also because the service that I was going to is one that although I enjoy it, is too formal for me.
Burlesque has also taken a bit of a backseat. I have several routines I want to develop and I just don't have the time to do that either.
All in all although life is OK, transition is going fine, work is not overly taxing at the moment but I'm enjoying being back at our Yeovil office, there is something that I'm missing and that's having fun. I want to have fun back in my life.
So after next week I'm going to put my sporting ambitions on hold. If I want to swim, run or cycle (which I still plan on doing a couple of times a week) then I'll go out on the spur of the moment with no set plan for what I'm going to do. If I'm awake at 5 in the morning and the sun is shining then I'll get my bike out and go for a ride. I'm going to work on developing that balloon strip routine to the Beep Beep song by the Playmates and the Diamond Heist routine to Stand and Deliver and I'm going to start going to the Sunday morning church service once more.
Having fun and getting back in touch with the reason I do things is the priority right now, something that I'd lost sight of.
So here's The Playmates with Beep Beep.
And Adam Ant with Stand and Deliver
Good for you, Jenna! Proud of you for making fun a priority again.
ReplyDeleteTransitioning requires *so* much energy and commitment that far too many of us forget how important it is to take a break on occasion. I didn't, and wound up in the hospital. Heck, I *still* get chastised for not slowing down enough (rightly so, I'm afraid).
I am going to try to follow your lead, and allow myself to have fun again. Thank you for the reminder, sweetie!
Hugs,
Cass
Off to see my girlies perform tonight. First time I'll be watching rather than performing so looking forward to it. Assuming that my other half doesn't come home and collapse with exhaustion and sunburn as a result of delivering phone books around the local area.
DeleteShe's working her little socks off at the moment. Spent yesterday afternoon and all today delivering them. We sat down to have lunch and watched a bit of TV at the same time and she was falling asleep then.
Will see how she is when she gets home before I do head off as I don't want her to fall asleep leaving my son to amuse himself all night!!
In the meantime I've been playing with my newest toy. I might be a budding gadget girl but my latest toy is going to give me hours of fun. Heated rollers. If my hair even half works out then its going to be a mass of curls and waves this evening :-)
How did it go with the rollers? As someone who lucked into having natural curls & waves, I know how much fun they are!!! :c)
DeleteHugs,
Cass
Cass, it went really well for a first try. Soooooooooooo much better than my old ones which have velcro on them and are a real pain to remove, usually pulling the curl out at the same time.
DeleteUsed the new ones on Saturday, left them in all afternoon and took them out when I was getting ready to go out. Pretty good set of curls and waves. In fact the waves have stayed in until this morning (Monday), although that probably has some thing to do with the setting lotion.
Think I'm going to be trying out a few looks with them over the coming weeks and getting more proficient with them :-)
I'll include a picture of my outfit when I write about Saturday night so you should be able to get an idea of how my hair looked.