On Being Okay if it Happens and Okay if it Doesn’t

While I am not quite ready to pull out the Christmas decorations (still have to get Halloween out of my yard…), I do have my first Christmas candle of the season burning tonight and it smells delightful. It’s the cedar balsam candle from Trader Joe’s. I stashed it away last year and I sure do hope they bring it back (looks like they are based on this link). I think Trader Joe’s does a great job with their candles.  Just enough fragrance and I never feel like I want to blow it out within a few minutes of lighting it because the scent is so strong.

Well my friends, we have all the things to catch up on. Let’s start with the happier things.

Finn was living the dream in TK last week – they dressed up three times! First, they wore costumes to school on Halloween and had the cutest parade through the sanctuary. Second, they filled up their compliment jar which meant they got to have a pajama day. And third…

Last week’s theme in TK was “Wild West” and Friday was dress like a cowboy day. My baby boy was styling in some 7 jeans and a Ralph Lauren flannel (both amazing hand me downs!) and we added the Woody vest and handkerchief from his three-year-old Halloween costume. His teachers sent me this photo and my heart absolutely melted.

On the self-care front, I treated myself to a facial with my extremely talented esthetician friend Ariana. When I first moved to Charlotte back in 2009, Ariana was the first beauty professional that I sought out for brow waxing. Here we are 14 years later and she’s still the only one I trust with my brows. A couple of times a year I treat myself to one of her amazing facials. She is a master at relaxing facials and here’s how the experience flows…

• Guided arriving deep breaths with aromatherapy
• Cleanse skin
• Peel (I usually just do a light enzyme) – while the peel is on she does hand/arm massage on both sides
• Remove peel
• Extractions
• Facial oil massage – this is HEAVENLY and I was drifting off to sleep during it
• Mask (we did a collagen mask this time) – while the mask is on she does neck, head, hair massage
• Remove mask
• Apply skincare

My facial was about 90 minutes total. I scheduled it for a Friday evening so I could really unwind and relax. Note, I do all of my skincare regimen, micro needling, lasers, injections, more clinical treatments at Carolina Facial Plastics but Ari has ALWAYS been in my life for a spa-like facial. If you live in Charlotte and want great waxing or a very relaxing facial customized to your needs, let me know! I’ll share her info.

In less fun news…I have been struggling with the respiratory infection that won’t leave my body for going on three weeks now. It started as a very manageable cold that was more annoying than anything. Just when I thought I was completely over it, I got hit hard on Halloween night with laryngitis and worsening respiratory symptoms. I ended up losing my voice.

I found myself at the doctor the next day (Wednesday). Based on the fact that I was 10+ days into symptoms, he offered me antibiotics, a steroid and an inhaler in hopes that it would get me back on my feet and ready to run the half marathon I’d been training for on Saturday…but I ended up going the inhaler only route and not running the half. I truly felt like what I had was viral. Despite having a hard time clearing the chest congestion and losing my voice, I felt really okay. I looked back at the string of URIs I had in 2022 and remembered just how long it takes to get the congestion out. Had I been laid up in the bed and miserable, I absolutely would have taken the antibiotics but they are just so hard on my body so I told myself that I’d give it a few days and see if I felt better. If I didn’t, I’d fill the prescriptions.

This meant not running the half marathon. I will admit that I am stubborn. I would have run despite a whole lot of other circumstances – but not at the expense of my health. I knew deep down that running the half Saturday would be stupid. I did not want to end up with serious bronchitis or pneumonia so I sat out.

I was really bummed. I’d been training for eight weeks and was really looking forward to running my first half in six years – and my city’s flagship race. But here’s the thing – I had a choice in how I looked at missing the race.

I have been talking about this idea of being okay if it happens and being okay if it doesn’t in my yoga classes for the last two days. What it means to be in a place of equanimity.

Because here’s the thing…as much as we grasp, fight and long to control life…so much of it is out of our control. Every day we are faced with things not going as planned on both a big and small scale – fitness, health, career, parenting, relationships. Owning your reaction to that is a very powerful place to be. We get to decide if life is happening to us or we are happening to life.

So guess what? Perhaps it’s not the time for me to run a half at all. Or I can choose to run a different race. Maybe I’ll run 13.1 on my own and call it a day. But at the end of the day – I’m okay no matter the outcome.

I have slowly been making my way back into workouts…I came across this panted heart among a bed of rocks on my first run back after this sickness. I had to stop and snap a photo. Let me be clear, being sick for a couple of weeks is really no big deal in the grand scheme of things. I’m really fine. Life has mostly gone on as normal but this has been a daily practice of accepting what’s here without resistance, and letting go of how I thought it would be.

And whenever things feel really crazy – never underestimate the comfort of tackling organization projects like cabinets and the fridge. I did both this weekend. 🙂

QUESTIONS 

When will you start decorating for Christmas?

How do you typically deal when you have to pivot? 

Have you ever had to miss a race due to sickness?