Monday Morning Attempted Blues

I may have caught a hint of it today. Woke up feeling a bit out of sorts (in my best Austin Powers voice), but in my best Matthew Wilder voice, “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Break My Stride.”

Just from that paragraph alone, I don’t think I’m tired. Sounds more like I’m schizophrenic. Anybody see Sally Fields performance in Sybil. Saw it as a child and let’s just say Forrest Gump’s mom is to blame for Forrest’s learning disabilities.

What To do When You’ve Got the Blues

I’ve got a gameplan just in case the tired bug comes a knocking. Always pray and thank God for strength and favor in everything you do. Then after, live it. You’ve prayed it, now you must live it. So the gameplan is simple … follow the calendar and agenda for the day and with God’s help, we can choose to be joyful.

In fact, today I do not feel like running. But as we all know, feelings can be so fickle. I have friends that Instagram a picture of a Starbucks morning cap with the title “Life is good” or my personal favorite “It can’t get any better than this.” Then, literally 1 hour later, “I can’t stand my boss. SMH. Life sucks.” That type of emotional roller coaster isn’t healthy. I’m hoping we all realize this. Studies actually show that these up-and-down mental gymnastics can cause illness. “I feel sick to my stomach” is oftentimes the end result of a stressful situation. Why get sick over something that hasn’t happened yet?

I ran my scheduled 6+ miles. I wasn’t close to my average per mile pace, but for today, it was my best. And afterwards, I got to eat a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s called comfort food for a reason. In fact, the exercise made me have more energy and after I got home, I did an easy T25 set. One solution for the blues is to move!

Morning weight = 171.5. Post run and easy T25 weight = 171.

So why do we do it?

Better yet, why do we allow ourselves to fall into this trap?

The simple answer is that we don’t know any better. Our reaction to stress can be a learned behavior. Is this you? Did your parents constantly over-react to highly intense situations without taking time to first pray, say, and live it. You probably learned it from them.

What do we do from here on?

First and foremost, we must accept that worry and stress cannot change a thing. If you think differently, I’d love to hear your story. But in my life, worrying, stressing, and feeling bad about something has never made it go away. So I strive to do my best to choose to be thankful when the world tells me to worry. Final solution for the blues is to accept worry does nothing.

Life lesson #113 — Worry does not change your situation. Being thankful in the midst of a stressful situation is the key to excellence.

Monday, 09-30-2013