18 Apr Punch Today in the Face!
The alarm went off at 4:15am. The gym class started at 5. Yah. It’s early. But let’s be honest, when else am I gonna have time to work out? It has to happen before I go to work or it isn’t gonna happen at all. But this morning, I did NOT want to get up. I knew that day at work was going to be INTENSE so as I hit the snooze, I laid there debating on what would make me happier – another hour of sleep or an hour of working out? The alarm went off again and I decided to haul my butt out of bed. I stumbled and got dressed, made a cup of coffee to drink on the way and headed out.
I got to the gym class and crankily made my way to the treadmill. I started to walk, slowly, to wake myself up. I pulled out my ponytail to smooth my hair and make it tighter, but as I put it back in, the ponytail holder snapped and flew, broken, behind the wall of treadmills. Crap. The trainer instructed us to start speeding up our pace and I stared at myself in the glass in front of me. Was I going to do a WHOLE hour of a crazy workout with my hair down? Dude. No fun at all. I decided it would be fine. Whatever. I wanted to wear my hair down for work anyway, so this way, there would be no ponytail crinkle. The cardio started heating up, I took off my sweatshirt and bust out the rest of the treadmill block.
As we slowed down the treadmill to move to the next chunk of our workout, I turned around to get off the machine and head to the rowers, and noticed something in the middle of the floor. Smack dab between the row of 12 treadmills and the row of 12 rowing machines was a bright orange and purple wrapped tampon. My tampon. That I had shoved in my sweatshirt pocket the day before and forgot about. When I had taken off my sweatshirt, it must have flown out of my pocket and fell in the MIDDLE of the room for everyone to see. I snatched it up, stuffed it under my sweat towel and tried to not make eye contact with anyone.
I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t have a hair tie. And now I was gonna be known as the ‘tampon girl’. This day sucked and it was just gonna get worse as I went to school that day because of the craziness I knew my schedule included. I wanted more than anything to walk straight out the door, to my car, and go home. And almost did.
I sat down at the rower, still not looking at anyone, and gave myself a pep talk. Who gives a care if you threw a tampon across the room? Who cares what people think of you as you lift weights with your hair all curled down around your shoulders like you think you are a fitness model? The only way to make this day not keep sucking, is to NOT let these stupid things determine your outlook and approach to the rest of the day. You HAVE to keep on trucking and PUNCH today in the face! And I HAD worn a shirt that told my legs to shut up. So I guess I better do the same. I better punch the day in the face!!! I finished my workout, hair down and all, and went into the crazy school day with a new outlook.
So many times we let things get us down. Maybe they aren’t even big things. Maybe it’s just a tampon in the middle of the gym class. Or, a broken hair tie. But this little thing, is what throws us over the edge. We have SO much going on already it is so hard to not let the negativity suck us in and discourage us from showing up for our lives. I am so guilty of this. When the world feels like a whirlwind, or like a balancing act, one more crazy thing, can make it all crash in.
But girls – we HAVE to show up for our lives. We have such an importance in this world and in the lives of the people around us. For real.
The truth we need to remind ourselves of is that negativity and positivity are choices. Our mindset, is our choice. How we react to the negativity around us and the stupid things that happen, is our choice. Really? you may ask… Yah. Really. No it’s not easy, not at all. And of course I DO get down in the pits and let the negativity soak in and make me cranky. Absolutely. BUT the more we practice something, the more we make the CHOICE to handle the crazy with positivity and hope, the more it will become our default.
We do have the ability to put a stop to the negativity in our minds. We can stop the slippery slope of negativity by changing our mindset. We can choose to not let the wacky stuff determine how we react to the world around us and keep us from being the women we were designed to be. We can decide to not let the stupid bologna hold us back from making an impact in the lives of those around us. We are just one self-pep talk on a rower away from punching our crazy days in the face and rocking it! Instead of letting it kick our butt.
So as the weekend starts, I know there is gonna be a little bit of wackiness that comes with it (I mean, goodness, all my kids are on Spring Break and there is gonna be a boatload of Easter candy being consumed – wackiness is inevitable) – I am choosing a mindset of positivity and deciding to not let the weird things that happen determine my attitude or behavior.
And, if you see me talking to myself in the car as I drive around town- realize I’m probably reminding myself of this and giving myself a pep talk. You should try it too!