Virtual Tea Date – Choose To Let It Be

Happy Saturday morning, sleepy head!

I hope you had a little bit of a chance to sleep in this morning! Not having to wake up to an alarm on the weekends is the absolute best! I actually woke up at 4am this morning because I was having really weird dreams (seems par for the course for me lately, which I REALLY don’t like), so I thought I’d check in with you fine people! I’ve been trying to write this post all week actually, but for some reason the words just weren’t flowing. I was in a REALLY funky mood and not feeling like writing… until now. I’m not complaining though because I don’t really like writing when it feels forced, so even though my writers block went away at 4am thanks to a bad dream, I’m thankful for it.

I actually have quite a few things to catch you up on, so I thought it was about time for another virtual tea date! For those of you that are new to these, they are basically all of the things I would tell you if we were catching up over tea (or coffee, whatever you prefer!) in real life! Obviously, this is only one side of the conversation though, so make sure you tell me in the comments section below what you would tell me if we were having a tea date in real-life! So grab your beverage of choice and get cozy!

Source here.

If we were having tea in real-life, I would tell you that this week has been a bit of a struggle. I’ve hit a few bumps in the road in my personal and professional life that kind of pushed me to my limits this week, after dealing with everything that comes along with recovering from a car accident. It’s felt a little like an “if it rains, it pours” sort of week of dealing with lots of things that I didn’t want to have to deal with and a lot of situations that just weren’t going my way. I’ve been a little frustrated, which I think has been contributing to my “funk” and overall bad mood, that was so bad that even a good friend commented and said I was being mean. Of course, I immediately apologized and a few tears were shed because I truthfully had no idea I was taking it out on this person and felt absolutely horrible.

I was at a loss with how to deal with my funk, until I came across this blog and decided to sign up for an impromptu Bikram yoga class (after I got doctors’ approval, of course) last night to clear my head. I was still hanging on to my bad mood until about halfway through class when the instructor said something that really struck me; “Choose to let it be.” Now she was referring to not messing around with your hair, tugging at your clothing or wiping off sweat during our Savasana between poses, but I looked at it in a more holistic approach. Just hearing this one phrase triggered me to start letting go of some of the things I’d been holding on to that week, and I felt a little lighter afterwards too, which was a great feeling.

Have you ever had those moments of clarity where you’re able to take a step outside of your own head and look at things from a different perspective? It’s interesting how quickly a fresh perspective can snap you out of a funk and reground you. I love moments like that and wish I had them more often.

Now speaking of going to yoga class, this week has marked a lot of firsts for me. Okay so I’m not sure if “firsts” is really the right term for it, but let’s roll with it. After my accident, I was pretty much restricted from all forms of exercise. Due to my concussion, I had to limit all extra physical activity to a few exercises prescribed by my physical therapist. For awhile, I was so out of it from all the pain medicines, that I was more than okay with this. I spent most of my time sleeping, so it didn’t really bother me. It was also painful to move, so I wasn’t in a rush to get back to the gym anyways.

As the pain started to subside a little, I started to get a little antsy though. Since I’m used to exercising quite frequently, I started to get a little stir crazy just laying around watching tons of TV shows and movies (I was actually restricted from reading for awhile because of my concussion and since I could barely move, this was about all I could do to pass the time). Thankfully this week I was released to start getting back into my normal routine to see how things felt.

I attended my first spin class in over three weeks on Thursday and it really felt good to see my spin friends again and get back on my bike. I’m happy to say that I made it though the entire hour of class! WhOOhOO! I definitely kept the intensity lower than normal and kept the standing jogs on the bike to a minimum (because the standing movements seemed to aggravate my back muscles) though. Even at that reduced intensity, I’m STILL feeling the burn from that class two days later! It’s amazing to me to realize how much my body had gotten used to doing spin because I’ve been feeling it in muscles I don’t remember ever feeling before!

Yup, that’s an awkward post spin class bathroom selfie for you. You’re welcome!

Now I forgot to mention the other after-my-accident-first I experienced on my way to spin class, driving on the freeway. I haven’t been doing a ton of driving since my accident. First it was because I was on so many medicines that I couldn’t actually drive and after that, it was because it hurt too much to turn the steering wheel. When I left work on Thursday to head to spin class, I instinctively hopped on the freeway to get there. I was immediately super stressed out by all the speeding cars weaving in and out of the lanes around me, the stop and go traffic and watching cars quickly come to a stop behind me in my rear view mirror. It wasn’t until I was almost there that I realized I had a death grip on the steering wheel and absolutely wasn’t even listening to the cd that was playing in my car because a song I ALWAYS skip over had been playing for a few minutes and I hadn’t even realized it. Needless to say, I took the backroads home.

I’m sure getting used to this again is just going to take some time, but it’s really shocking to me how much this has affected me. I’ve practically lived on the freeway for the last 5+ years of my life since I have a ton of friends that live in Seattle (which is about an hour north from where I live). I also used to work in Seattle, so I had to make the long trek to and from work on the freeway 5 times a week. Thankfully I don’t work in the city anymore, so I can take baby steps with getting used to freeway driving again, instead of being forced to do it to get back and forth from work every day.

One last first I had this week was getting back into yoga. I made a goal for myself to practice yoga 1 time a week in 2015 but had to miss last week since I hadn’t been released yet. When my physical therapist released me to get back into my practice Friday morning, I was so excited to start to get back into my “normal” routine. For awhile I had a weird relationship with yoga. I never really thought it was a “good enough” workout, compared to things like cross training and other cardio exercises, so I kind of always put it on the back burner and kept pushing off practice until the next week.

Lately, I’ve really been enjoying getting back into it as a way to stretch and re-center myself. It’s amazing to me how much better you can feel after an hour (or 90 minutes) of intense concentration on your breathing and body movement. On top of that, I also noticed some relief from the tension and pain caused by my accident, so I think it’s safe to say that my relationship with yoga has become stronger because of my accident.

Phew. I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought! Sometimes it feels good to just start writing and see what comes out though! Thanks for listening to me blab on our tea date! It’s been so good to catch up with you! Make sure you leave a comment below with what you would tell me on our tea date!

Questions of the Day:

If we were having a real-life tea/coffee date, what would you tell me?

What are your plans for today?

– I’m going to a Seahawks Playoff party with some of my favorite people!!!

Linking up to Healthy Diva Life, Her Heartland Soul, Life of Meg, Running Rachel, Olives N Wine, The Dwelling Tree and Still Being Molly.