Still The Same Yet Different

 

My brain goes to interesting places while I am running, yesterday’s nine mile run is no exception.

Based upon this post, it shouldn’t be any wonder why I don’t say hello to others as I pass them…I am clearly in another world trying to solve all of life’s mysteries for us.

Have you ever taken a trip back to a school you once attended only to think it looked much smaller than you remembered?

The building isn’t so big, the hallways aren’t so long, the desks are really tiny and how the heck did you ever fit your tush in the chair?

Did you have a favorite packaged snack growing up such as Entenmann’s cookies, Hostess Cupcakes or a specific Drakes Cake like Ring Dings or Yodels and think it was the yummiest dessert on the planet only to taste it years later and discover it to be a poor excuse for chocolate and a complete waste of calories?

 

Was it never as good as you thought? Did the company alter their recipe?

Or, did your palate get all fancy and learn to expect true quality chocolate, fresh from scratch goodies with real ingredients versus artificial flavors, colors and preservatives?

Have you ever suffered a running injury to the point where you needed to take up another form of exercise in order to rest and heal your injury only to find you love that activity possibly more than running? For the record this has never happened to me but I have heard of it happening so just go with it.

Or, maybe you still love running but have come to realize that you could also love Spin just as much or in another way?

And when it comes to love, what about those relationships in your life that you thought were forever yet suddenly out of nowhere come to end leaving you convinced that you will never recover, move on or fully get over it.

In fact, you assume that should the opportunity present itself to you again, you will welcome the day with open arms no matter how many years later it may be.

But something interesting happens over time.

You grow and get stronger from the experience and from living life, become more resilient than you ever could have imagined yet remain clueless to this change in you and to how over something you really are until it does come back to you.

And then, you suddenly find yourself seeing that former situation like you view a package of Ring Dings.

You once thought those cute little Ring Dings were really good but eh, they really weren’t best dessert out there.

It’s like your elementary school from childhood.

Still the same yet different. Only it isn’t different, it’s you that is different.

You outgrew it.

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Be sure to check out what everyone else is thinking about today!

Favorite snack cake as a kid? 

Have you had any of those packaged desserts recently? Does it still taste so good to you?

Favorite cross-training workout?

 

Three Tip Tuesday – Learning From Mistakes

 

There is a very serious game of Monopoly going on in our house. So serious that we left it all set up and ready for the little boy’s next move.

If I want to be totally honest, I was too tired to enforce clean up of the game last night so I said we can continue playing today.

So. The new Keurig machine? Not my best friend just yet.

It really doesn’t work all that well or maybe I should reform this sentence to state that it’s coffee brewing has been sporadic at best. I am giving it a chance to warm up to me but there is a possibility that it may be heading back to the store.

Did I rush my decision to not trust my old Keurig?

People who know me know that I am a very trusting and loyal person. I never make a rash, abrupt decision nor do I hold much of a grudge, especially when it comes to the people (or things) that I truly care about.

However, one too many times I have been too trusting, too loyal and well, too caring to make the necessary moves and changes in my life at the appropriate times.

Funny how a Keurig machine can bring about this conversation.

I gave some thought to this yesterday morning as I ran (six miles if you were wondering. Some of those six were tough and then suddenly I didn’t want the run to end).

How often do you find yourself in repeat situations where you really should have learned your lesson the first time around?

We experience many things in our lifetime and live to tell about it. But, how often can you say that what you experienced you have not only learned from to develop your intuition but kept in mind in order TO NOT find yourself repeating old and maybe not-so-good-for-you patterns?

Your intuition only works for you if you  have learned from your mistakes. Oprah taught me that.

Let’s talk today about three areas of our lives where we may be stuck in repeating patterns.

1. BINGE EATING/EVENING CRAVINGS:

When I first got married and lived with my then husband, he wanted me to buy a few cereals for the pantry, including but not limited to Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.

I told him no way. I couldn’t have cereal in the house. He looked at me as if I was insane. And probably told me straight out that I was in fact insane.

You see, back then I didn’t eat enough and certainly didn’t eat balanced when I did.

And when one doesn’t eat a decent balanced diet with enough calories, they get crazy hungry in the evening and eat whatever they crave. And then some.

For me, back then, my downfall was cereal (and m&m’s).  If I opened the box (or bag) I couldn’t be responsible for what occurred next.

And after every cereal attack, I tried the next day to not let it happen again.

My way of making up for it was taking it out on my meals by trying to eat “healthy” which translated into “still-not-enough-calories-or-balanced”.

I was still hungry and craving things in the evening because I still wasn’t eating enough during the day.

It was much easier for me to not have cereal in the house yet is that a way to live? Especially when you live with someone else? Is keeping the cereal out of the house the way to solve and learn from the problem or simply masking it?

If you are still super hungry in the evening beyond a normal, random craving, you are probably not eating enough during the day.

Food is fuel, let’s all remember that. Ignoring true hunger will not help you. It may seem to work for a few hours, or even a few days, but at some point, appetite and cravings kick in and take over.

At some point back then I got a hold on this concept and dealt with it and applied it to my life.

There are still plenty of nights where I am hungry. When it happens, I often make another meal. Another dinner, another snack or if chocolate calls my name, I answer with handfuls of chocolate chips.

But, if it happens on a regular basis, I know it is my body telling me I am not eating enough during the day and I have learned to listen and make the appropriate adjustments during the day.

2. RELATIONSHIPS:

If you are single, married, divorced or somewhere in between, how many times have you found yourself dating the same type of not-good-for-you type of person, fighting the same fight, tolerating the same scenario, ignoring your feelings for the sake of someone else, accepting something you don’t really wish to accept?

We can even throw under this topic our business and career relationships as well as relationships with our friends.

Why haven’t we learned from previous experiences?

We can watch for the signs, make note of them in our heads but sometimes our hearts get in the way and we don’t want to listen to reason.

We may be afraid to speak up for ourselves, afraid to rock the boat or are simply afraid to make a change.

Regardless of the relationship, we cannot change others; we can only change our reaction to others and our reaction to situations.

Relationships are a tricky thing yet I am pretty confident in thinking and saying almost all of us have been in repeat situations with no one to blame for that but ourselves.

Something to think about, yes?

3.OVERTRAINING:

Bad runs happen. Sometimes there is no explanation to offer; they are just a part of life.

However, several bad runs in a row may be caused by something you are doing or shall I say not doing – like taking a rest day.

I can sit and blame my sneakers, my diet, my mood, my legs or the rain (if I am feeling all Milli Vanilli)…

I can write a whole post about how suddenly my runs just plain stink, question why I can’t sleep all that well and wish I had a personal masseuse in my closet for my legs that keep aching.

I can do all of that wasted thinking in place of simply realizing what I already have come to know – OVERTRAINING. REST DAY NEEDED.

I know this yet sometimes ignore it. I push myself to run through it even though I need a rest day.

Running and running and running isn’t going to suddenly make the next run better. Rest is necessary. Cross training is necessary.

When will I learn to remember this? Hmm. Today. Today I will remember that I ran six miles yesterday and although  I am not due for a rest day, I am due for a cross training day.

As for the Keurig machine, was I too abrupt to say goodbye? I don’t know. I am trying not to repeat old patterns in keeping things around longer than they deserve and the Keurig machine became my target practice.

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I NEED TO KNOW:

Can you pinpoint areas in your life where you are currently repeating old not-good-for-you patterns?

What is your craving/nighttime downfall? It’s funny, I never really looked at cereal again after that time in my life. Now I go straight for dark chocolate chips.

Last time you played Monopoly?