2016 Goals

When 2016 began there were 2 goals that I wanted to accomplish this year.  One was teaching a class for the first time at Seattle University.  The other was completing a triathlon.  And now I can excitedly say that I completed both goals this year!

Goal #1

Back in February, I thankfully received the opportunity to teach a 2-credit, 4-week class for all undergrad majors on campus.  I was given the autonomy to design the class and come up with my own curriculum.  The opportunity came my way because the university is trying to offer more 2-credit classes every quarter in case students have to drop a class, but need to remain full time or if students want to add on a shorter class for their quarter.  I have wanted to teach a class since I started my job 10 years ago.  I got to teach at my former job at the University of Missouri-Columbia. It's a much larger school and they relied a lot on staff members with masters degree to help teach some developmental type classes like Learning Strategies which is what I taught.  A school like Seattle University is much different since it's private and smaller.  They pride themselves on students having small classes with tenured faculty so there's not much opportunity for staff to teach.  Finally after 10 years the chance to teach arrived on my doorstep.

To prepare, I came in on weekends for a couple weeks to prep, develop my curriculum and plan things out.  I found myself getting very excited and feeling lots of energy every time I worked on my class.  The big first day came in mid-February.  I was so nervous that morning.  Plus my class started at 8am which made it even more nerve racking.  My students would be sleepy no doubt so it was up to me to keep them engaged and make the class interesting.  The title of my class was Strengths and Career Planning.  My whole goal was to usher students through useful, practical lessons and activities to help give them clarity and confidence around their career aspirations and strengths.  Lessons included Gallup StrengthsFinder, resumes/cover letters, interviewing, networking, and LinkedIn. Some days I involved colleagues of mine as guest speakers.  Luckily I ended up with about 19 wonderful students who were engaged and saw value in the class.  They were all different majors, different stages in their college careers.  Despite some coming in late and most of them feeling very tired at 8am, they were respectful, kind, eager, and made my experience very meaningful.  I loved getting to work with a variety of students--not just business majors too just to change things up a bit.

All in all it was a wonderful experience.  And I've even been asked to teach it again next spring 2017. I have some things I want to do differently next time, but it's nice that I've been through it once now and have most of the class curriculum established.  It'll be much less daunting this time.  But I'm having a lot of fun with this.  I can tell there is definitely a piece of me that loves teaching.  I don't want to do it on a regular basis, but it's a nice supplement to my normal job.  And it's pushed me this year and rejuvenated me.  Goal #1 complete!

Goal #2

Let's just say that living with a triathlete husband these past 3 years has lit a fire under me to get my butt in gear and get in shape.  Especially after going through 2 pregnancies and infant stages.  This year I finally found the window to pursue a fitness goal and fit in more of a fitness routine.  When the year began I set my sights to complete a triathlon in the summer.  I had no idea how I was going to fit in training, but thankfully James was supportive and helped me make some time.

With the extra proceeds I made from goal #1, I was able to purchase a road bike in March.  That was the big catalyst to making goal #2 a reality.  I'd always wanted a road bike and wanted to get more into the sport, but I kept making excuses that it's too expensive or I'll wait until the boys are older.  I don't know why I waited so long!  I've found a new love for biking.  I just love riding on beautiful country roads which are plentiful in our area.  And we have a trainer so it's even something I can do at home in the early morning or when the weather is bad.  Plus it's much easier on my body than running.  So I figured out the bike part of the training.  Now how was I going to train on swimming?

After some research I found that the Mercer Island community pool actually has a evening lap swim schedule condusive to my work schedule.  With James' support I stopped by the pool on my way home from work one time a week and got my swim in.  I forgot how much I enjoy swimming as well. Just me in my own little world, letting my mind go and feeling refreshed.  Much easier on my joints as well.

The most dreaded part for triathlon training for me was the running.  I've had bad knees really since college.  I used to run in college, but my knees were always so sore and in so much pain that I gave it up and instead did the elliptical machine at the gym or walked.  I hit a moment this year though where I felt like "This is ridiculous!  I'm 36.  I should be able to run at this age.  I want to keep up with my boys and be able to be active with them.  I need to figure this out."   After learning from an orthopedist that nothing was really wrong with my knees--just ware and tear, I started to see my PT on a regular basis.  She helped me build up my leg muscles and also taught me how to massage and rub out the muscles when they're feeling tired/strained so I can take the pressure off my knees.  It helped tremendously.  I'm still not a major runner.  I usually go on walk/runs.  But I've made a lot of progress.

The big triathlon day arrived on July 17.  I decided to compete in the ChelanMan Try-a-Tri.  James was competing the same weekend in the Olympic Triathlon and I thought it would be fun to do a competition the same weekend as James and a lot of our friends.  I'm so glad I did because it was helpful to be around so much support and to have friends cheering as I did my race.  Plus what a gorgeous location!

The Try-a-Tri was a 1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike and a 5K run.  Based on my training, my goal was to complete all 3 in around 2 hours.  I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 38 minutes!  The bike route was much easier than what I had been doing in my training.  It took a little while to get used to the swim because the water was cold and I couldn't catch my breath.  But then I got into my rhythm and completed the swim in about 10 minutes.  The bike was my favorite--a beautiful route along Lake Chelan.  And it was a really nice morning.  Overcast and cool.  I tried to remind myself to pick my head up, look around and enjoy the moment.  My least favorite part was the run, but it wasn't that bad.  I took a break to walk a couple times and it actually went pretty fast.  It was so fun to come across that finish line with my family and friends cheering me on!  I felt strong and energized.  And I'm so glad my boys saw me work for and complete a goal--especially a fitness goal.  Goal #2 complete!

I need to start brainstorming some good personal/professional development goals for 2017.  But for now, I think I'll just take a breath, put my feet up more, and soak in the rest of summer.  Whew!  :)

Blessed and exhausted

Life feels like a constant dichotomy right now.  

On the one side I feel so utterly blessed and that life is so full and rich.  So many dreams have come true--amazing husband and happy marriage, two wonderful, healthy kids, living in a comfy home in a beautiful area, great jobs that provide well and satisy us, surrounded by amazing family and friends, awesome church community, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.  I could go on for a long time.  

And on the other end of the spectrum (and I know I can speak for James on this too) we feel utterly exhausted.  I'm getting an average about 5.5 to 6 hours of sleep a night.  We each commute about 1.5-2 hours total every day.  We are ALWAYS late.  We barely have any time for each other at night after getting the kids to bed and getting things ready for the next day.  If one kid doesn't need something, the other does and then when those needs are met, the other kid needs something.  And in the middle of that we need to keep up with the house and general life responsibilities.  By the end of the work week, I feel like a zombie.  Weekends are filled with grocery trips, errands, swimming lessons, family/friend events, church, yardwork, etc.  And sometimes it all just feels like one giant rat race that I have myself wondering what's it all for?

It's funny how you always want what you don't have.  About 10 years ago I would have killed for the life I have now.  I was so insecure in my 20's--didn't know what I wanted, up and down relationships, unsatisfied, away from home, etc.  And now I would give anything to have 1 week to be ALONE back in my apartment in Missouri--no one needing me, tons of free time, barely any responsiblities. Every day I find myself longing to go to a cafe and have a cup of coffee with a good book, get a pedicure, take a nap, go on a day trip with James, cook a fancier meal, exercise, and just feel more balanced. 

And then I start to think well maybe I need to make some changes in my life--somehow find a job closer to home to cut down the commute, do better time management so there's more "me" time in the day, figure out a part-time job situation, and on and on.  But as I think more about it, I don't really want anything major about our life to change right now.  When I step back, things are really truly good.  Could I be better about balance and creating more "me" time?  Yes, probably.  Is it super overwhelming to have 2 little kids right now?  Yes.  Will it always be this way?  No.  Will someday they be grown and I'll feel like I would kill to be in the position I'm in now when they're little and just love being with us?  Yes, probably.  And let's be honest...if I had the chance to go back to that Missouri apartment to be alone, probably two days would go by and I would severely miss James and the kids and want to be back in my current life. 

So the words I hear God whispering over and over again in my head is "Contentment.  Be present. Be grateful."  I'm trying my best to be there.  It's a daily thing I need to work at.  Some days I'm better at it than others.  But it's my personal development work going forward--no matter what stage in life I want these words to echo in my mind and heart.  Life is too good and I just don't want to miss any of it.  

**Side note--HUGE shout out to my sweet husband.  He knows me so well and saw how overwhelmed I was feeling so for Christmas he got us a house cleaning service!!  They come every other week and honestly it's been such a saving grace.  Thank you honey!!!  

Klutz

It's been a challenging start of the year for me as I've had a couple klutz-y moments that have proven painful, embarrassing and annoying.  Although these are bummer experiences, I've found ways to laugh at myself and I thought it would be good to record them on the blog so we can look back and chuckle at my gracefulness. 

A couple weeks ago James and I were skiing with his parents.  I had to go to bathroom so I left them to do another run.  We were at Stevens Pass.  There is a hill you have to walk up to get the lodge which can be pretty tricky in ski boots.  So I thought it would be easier to take the rope tow up the hill.  Now to be fair I haven't ridden on a rope tow since I was a kid learning how to ski.  But I thought "How hard can it be?"  I grabbed on to the rope.  My arm moved with the rope but my body didn't follow.   The rope yanked my arm hard and I fell forward on my face.  With deep embarrassment and pain I struggled to finally get on my feet at which point I noticed that my arm was radiating pain.  I luckily was able to finish out the day skiing after some Advil.  But I knew clearly I did some damage to my arm because for the next couple of days I couldn't even raise it to brush my hair (it's my right arm).  Most of the pain was in my shoulder.  I went to see an orthopedic doctor who thought it a good idea to get an MRI.  So far the MRI results have shown nothing wrong with my rotator cuff or muscles, ligaments or tendons around the shoulder so that's good.  And my shoulder is steadily getting better every day.  They did see a small crack in the ball of the shoulder joint so it could be a bone bruise or a small fracture.  I go back to the doctor in a couple weeks to assess next steps.  Needless to say I probably will never be going on a rope tow ever again.  :(

Then just a couple days ago I was putting a rubber bin back in our car.  We keep that bin in there all the time and to prevent it from sliding around, we hook it in with a bungee cord.  I went to hook the bungee cord and it didn't grasp on to the anchor, but instead snapped back and hit me in the face really hard.  It's a pretty nasty bruise as you will see below.  Luckily I've been able to cover it up with makeup pretty good just so I don't shock people.  

As you'll see in my next post I've been doing some spiritual/personal work in finding joy.  These two recent experiences have challenged me in this.  But here are some "look on the bright side" aspects:

*Both injuries could have been way worse.  I could have broken a leg skiing or really damaged my arm.  The bungee cord could have hit my eye instead of my face
*I now have total empathy for people who have large birth marks or noticeable unique features that might cause people to stop and stare.  I will be much more cognizant of how I react when I notice things like that on people in the future
*Experiences like this always make me realize that I take health and normal body functioning for granted.  Every day is an opportunity to really thank God for good health because it is a true blessing

The healing process continues...not just for my injuries but also for my bruised pride.

Grass: Greener

Last December my good friend DeeDee sent me a link to an article.  At the time I thought it was great so I kept it.  I'm so glad I did because there have been numerous times in the past couple of weeks that I've re-read it just to find some perspective and regain balance again.  It's a helpful reminder to be thankful for what I have and to make the most of the present situation--enjoy every moment.  I wanted to include it in this blog so I don't forget about it as times passes.

Read the article here.