I just finished a 30 minute walk. That in itself may not seem amazing to you but it is the most intentional exercise I have had in...too long. If you have been following my blog, you know that I have had a lot of emotional and career-related nonsense to deal with in the past 6 months. Unrequited love, bullying, and panic attacks can take a lot out of a girl, and I am no exception. I have focused more on leaving the past where it belongs and making a new beginning for myself. Part of that new beginning has to do with returning to the kind of teaching that feeds my soul: working with primary students. My second graders certainly have given me a workout of their own kind, but we are finally at a place where I feel like I can teach without putting out fires every 10 minutes. In the midst of the excitement, fear, and anxiety revolving around a job change, I have made some adjustments to how I care for my body. I've been upping my water consumption and getting lots of sleep during the week. With prodding from my ever wonderful yet hovering mother, I ordered Nutrisystem food because "You know, Maria Osmond looks beautiful and she eats that food". With all due respect to "Maria" (What? You didn't know there were Italian Mormons? Well, there are...and they can sing their lungs out!), I don't think this system is going to help me in the long run...like when I go back to eating real food. Anyway, no where in my health conscious decisions did I add any kind of exercise at all. Until this weekend... I received an email at work from one of my new colleagues which stated that she was going to do the Freihoffer's 5K Run for Women in Albany, and she was hoping to get a running group together from our school. I have toyed with the idea of running in the past. The "idea" of running was appealing to me, but the reality associated with it (i.e. you have to get up and do it) never clearly clicked with me. When I was in my 20s and 30s I would look at runners and wonder what mental illness they were suffering from and when there would finally be a cure for it. Unless I was being chased by a wild dingo, I wouldn't ever even try to run. It just seemed unnecessary and crazy to me. But at the same time, I always admired the runner who was out there in the rain, cold, or snow. They were dedicated to an activity that no weather could derail. And most runners have an athletic form that I find very attractive: fit, not thin and not bulky. So, this email struck a chord with me. The 5K is not until the first weekend in June. That gives me a good four months to get prepared for it. I immediately emailed her back and said I was on board. She was glad to hear it but wanted me to email back when I had actually signed up (perhaps she was used to people saying "yes" to an idea but "no" to the reality). Well, I signed up on Friday night and sent that email. Now I have a goal: get myself ready to get myself ready for the 5K. You see, I know all about the Couch to 5K programs out there and am signing up for one that begins in March. But I don't think my body is even ready for THAT level of training. I need to get this magnificent body of mine (speaking only positive words about my body...another change I'm trying to make) ready to be trained. Which is where my walk today comes in. Last Monday I attended a professional development session that talked about a program called "because I said I would". It basically is a way to build character in students by having them make one week promises to themselves about something they promised they would do in the coming week. Students might promise something school related like "I promise I will study my spelling words each night" or something personal like "I promise I will pick up my toys after playtime". The gist of the program is that students are making these promises to themselves and feeling the accomplishment when they keep their promises (check out the website: www.because I said I would.com ). The teachers who presented this program talked about how they were doing this weekly with their students and challenged us all to make a promise to ourselves. They stressed that the promise shouldn't be anything huge or undoable because the point was to follow through on the promise within a week. Some people chose cleaning out their cars (a future promise for me!) while others made a pledge to not keep their car-sharing spouses waiting in the morning because of their disorganization. I made the promise to organize the pile of teaching books in my dining room that had accrued since I was offered the new teaching position. I promised to sort out the books into intermediate (not needed at this time) and primary books. It took me until the Sunday before the Monday deadline, but I did it. I felt so good after doing it that I decided that this was something I should incorporate into my life.
And this week I am doing it. For the week of 01/31/16 I promise I will walk at least 3x for 30 minutes. I am one third of the way through to fulfilling my promise to myself. I plan on using this blog as part of my accountability for keeping these promises so feel free to check in with me either here, in person, or on Facebook. These will by my first steps to running in a 5K. "Born to Run", Bruce? Not so much. More like "Getting Ready for Getting Ready to Run", and I will do it.
It is amazing to me how much my life has been affected in the past 10 years by one little device, the iPhone. I remember when I first made the leap to be the Apple product and how I was sure I would never rely on it as much as I had seen others around me. After all, I went years without my own "cellular device" and really never enjoyed talking on the phone all that much. I thought my friends needed phones because they had spouses and children who needed to be in touch with them. It just didn't seem like a necessity for me to carry around a phone. I knew that there were other things you could do with an iPhone but never thought they would catch my attention. Well, I was quite wrong. From streaming music to reading books on the go to driving confidently to new places (thanks to Mapquest), I have not only relied on my iPhone but have, at times, been obsessed with using it. Texting has become a favored way of communicating with friends and family near and far (have I mentioned how much I hate talking on the phone?), and waiting for appointments is no longer an act of frustration for me. Yes, the iPhone has become an essential part of my daily routine. Recently, I discovered a new hidden jewel in this treasure trove of communication aides: streaming recorded books. My preferred app of choice is the audible.com one which is associated with amazon.com. Every month I receive 3 credits to purchase a new audible recording for a very reasonable price. I first joined this service because I wanted to hear a BBC radio play called "Neverwhere" which is based on a book written by Neil Gaiman. This recording had some of my favorite actors reading the parts. I found out it was being offered through this service so I decided to join for a month and see if there were any other books/recordings I would be interested in. It was an Anglophile's dream! I've been able to hear poetry read by my favorite British actor, Benedict Cumberbatch and learn about the tumultuous life of another favorite, Alan Cumming. Alan's memoir, Not My Father's Son, actually became my "reward" for exercising. I would only allow myself to listen to his lilting Scottish accent telling me all about his dynamic life while walking the lap track at the YMCA. My purchases on this site seem to be split between "celebrity" readers (Amy Pohler, Steve Harvey) and my usual go-to genre, nonfiction. And within the nonfiction genre by far the greatest number of titles read/heard are of the "self improvement" variety. When I was hired to teach in Troy, I discovered that by hooking up my iPhone to my car stereo I could listen to my books and avoid all the nonsense of morning radio which I used to numbly listen to as I drove in the darkness of 6:15 most mornings. As my time in Troy passed, I realized that every so often I could use the mini "pep talks" that my favorite motivational authors like Joel Osteen would provide in their recordings. Unfortunately, my stress level got to the point in Troy that I needed these little pep talks more mornings than not. In my effort to remain positive in a rather repressive environment, I discovered new authors who became my virtual mentors. Authors like Brene Brown and Marshall Goldsmith became my own personal cheerleaders who serendipitously seemed to dole out just the right words that I needed to get me through another day. I don't believe in coincidences, and more than once I was amazed about how much better I felt after listening to these authors even though their topics seemingly had little to do with my career or my personal life. In fact, Brene Brown's book Rising Strong was instrumental in my ability to leave Troy mid-school year in order to go after my dream of returning to teaching primary students. Brown's words also helped me get through the uncomfortable span of time between my giving notice and last day of work. Every morning as I would get out of my car in the school parking lot, it felt like Brene had my back.
Flash forward to my current situation. I have completed one week at my new position in another inner city school district. The class I have has experienced some turbulent changes that have left them a bit unruly although I did see progress daily. I am thrilled to be starting over in a new district in a school where I have been made to feel so welcome. And while I'm still listening to my "future-looking" authors, I have to say I am pretty content to just focus on the here and now. I'm searching for my new audio mentors to help keep me full of gratitude and patience as I live out my dream. Hopefully, by writing this blog entry I will encourage someone else to take another look at their "cellular device", not to shut out reality but to get some inspiration from it like I did. Yeah, I never did like talking on the phone...but I love listening to it.
