Thinking Out loud

Being Grateful when Nothing Goes Right: TOL #52

July 7, 2016 by Alicia 4 Comments

If you’re my friend on Facebook or even follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I mentioned my frustrating commute to the office the last couple days. The commute that left me standing on a train platform for 45 minutes Tuesday morning as I discovered the trains were running on a special modified schedule after pulling 1/3 of their train cars out of service to be inspected. The way I have heard the story is someone noticed one of the railcars leaning, looked at it and noticed cracks on some beam. This basically meant had the train reached a certain mph, there could have been a deadly derailment.

The interesting thing is the issue is on the newest railcars, which thankfully are under warranty but it still could take a while to fix or replace these railcars. I think the most frustrating thing is that you never know when your train will come and you never know how crowded it will be. After about an hour of my morning was wasted on Tuesday, I rushed out for the train after work. The train was only about 10 minutes late, so we would have been fine…until we discovered we were switched to the wrong track and heading the wrong way…so we waited for a couple trains to pass before backing up almost all the way to the city to switch to the correct track. An hour and a half on the train for usually a 30 minute ride, you can imagine I was quite frustrated. I also had to get to yoga to teach. I had just under an hour to eat, get ready and do everything I needed for the evening before heading out again.

In this time it’s very hard to stay positive. Over 2 hours of my day, gone. Not only that but then you have to make up the time at work for being late, so no lunch breaks for me recently.

In light of all this though, you have to think about the situation. As I mentioned, they removed the cars because there could have been a possible derailment. When that Amtrak train derailed last year, it was scary! Even scarier was that it was on the track I ride! My train doesn’t usually go the speed of the Amtrak trains, so I wasn’t as worried, but it is scary. I have taken a few rides on Amtraks from Chicago to Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago and Chicago to Syracuse. You want to feel safe on a train. I mean, I hope to feel safer on a train than in a car (there are some crazy drivers out there).

On most days, I am grateful for my commute by train. I look out the window and see the highway at a dead stop and know this is definitely the way I prefer. Plus I get to read blogs, write or do something that makes me commute time seem a bit more productive.

So here is what I am trying to remind myself while I face all this frustration. I am grateful…

For my life (as my job enforces: safety, safety, safety)
That I have a job(s)
The ability to work at home (worked an hour and took a later train yesterday, worked out well)
That I can afford to make healthy food choices
For my co workers who tolerate me even when I have no idea what I am saying (this was Tuesday…so off)
5am workouts, because even with all this workouts > work (my priorities for my own sanity)
Yoga teaching, because at the end of the day to come back to yoga and just see how much it benefits myself and others in class makes me smile
Green smoothies (slightly random but made my night better Tuesday, aka quick tasty dinner)
Arriving home 40 minutes earlier yesterday and enjoying a quiet evening
My apartment community, walking and saying hi

From the big things, like my life to little things, like saying hi to someone. I have to remember to be grateful for everything. To flip this whole situation around to a positive. It is easy to write this list and then still be caught up in the moment, thinking I could be doing 5 other things instead of standing on this train platform. I think it’s hardest when you know you work 8 hours, but if your commute suddenly takes 2 hours instead of 1, where do you make up that other hour? Each day will be different and we will see how it goes, but I am going to try to keep positive and use whatever waiting around time to be as productive as possible from writing to reading. Another thing to be grateful for, as frustrating as they can be, are smartphones. I love Google Docs on my phone to write up ideas.

I wasn’t even planning to post today, but then this came to my mind as I was reading all the different #PHLCommute on Twitter. Sometimes you just have to write when it hits you.

I hope everyone has a great day and remember to check back tomorrow for another Yoga Workshop Friday post. In case you missed my intro post, here is the link to last Friday.

Stepping Back: Thinking Out Loud #51

June 30, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Happy Thursday everyone!! Do you ever have those days where you just want to eat and eat and eat, maybe craving something but can’t figure it out, so you just eat? or…maybe that’s just me. Well that was me yesterday anyway, but that’s not my topic for the day.

So life lately…or rather workouts lately. I have taken a bit of a step back with more rest days than normal. I usually have 1-2 rest days a week, but even my rest days are pretty active with walking. I needed to take a further step back. Back in mid May, on a Tuesday, I was walking to work and my right foot had a lot of pain in the arch and ball of the foot. So much so that I could not walk on the inner side of my foot. I rely on my feet A LOT as I walk to the train and to my work building, exercise nearly daily and also fit in lunch time walks when I can. I think, in life, we take a lot for-granted and especially our feet. I mean, I try to stretch to warm up/cool down (but should stretch more), but I focus on my hamstrings, quads and other parts of my body, not as much on my feet, which when you think about it, they work really hard for us.

Anyway back to the pain in my foot, I didn’t really know what caused it, but I had been doing a lot more workouts and new routines at the gym. I was doing more yoga which felt pretty good, but it is possible I was pushing a bit too far at times.

I took rest days, I took salt baths and I worked on stretching my feet with my Yoga Tune up balls. Using them on the arches of my feet is like that painful in a good way feeling. It gets deeper than the foam roller and it’s great.

After doing that for a while and resting, my arch felt better but the ball of my foot still bothered me from time to time. Finally I made an appointment with a foot doctor and went last week. Of course I feel like as soon as I made that appointment my foot started to feel better, like it was scared of the doctor and saying I’m OK, I’m OK. But I still wanted to get it checked out because 1) it’s my foot and it’s important! 2) I have heard from friends and read online how you might have a slight pain and could be a stress fracture and 3) I didn’t want to make it worse if I should be staying off of it more.

Well an x-ray of my foot and some poking and prodding, there is one tender area around my big toe, but otherwise, no stress fracture on the x-ray and the doctor said rest the foot, no zumba for 3 weeks and it is probably a bit of tendonitis.

This is also why I have been swimming a bit more, knowing it is fine for my foot and I also warm up with the bike instead of the treadmill at the gym now. Great news is that I don’t feel so out of breath on the bike as I used to and Angry Beavers is on at 5am on Nickelodeon in case anyone is up at that hour like me. My foot felt fine as I danced for a couple hours at the wedding I was at on the weekend. I resumed my 5am workouts this Tuesday and it honestly felt a little sore after the whole day on Tuesday though I partially blame my work shoes. My foot feels fine barefoot and most of the time it’s OK in my sneakers, but my work shoes which are just black flats basically, it struggles. Luckily I don’t wear them too much. I am sitting most of the day anyway and keep my shoes off while switching yoga positions in my office chair. I am so glad my office is pretty casual as I talk to someone while having one foot up on my chair and one dangling by the floor or sitting cross legged. Anyone else sit in weird positions? I just can’t sit normally or I slouch too much and I get antsy.

Anyway for now I am slowly easing into the workouts and my arms and abs are getting more attention than my legs. I am staying away from lunges at the moment except when I teach yoga and no zumba or too much jumping either. I am hoping since it has been feeling better with rest that if I continue to ease into things and also stretch more that it will be better. Just another thing to keep an eye on and I’m only 26, but hopefully because I am young, it will heal well as long as I continue to listen to my body, which maybe I wasn’t doing too well with all my double workout and intense workout days in May.

A reminder how important rest days are and how important it is to know when to push and when to step back.

Meanwhile, as I continue to not turn on the TV during the week (minus Angry Beavers while I bike at the gym), I do watch a few short Youtube clips while I eat or something. I remember when I saw the link going around Facebook about the Rainbow Highlighter and there is currently a 10 month pre-order. 10 MONTHS!! I somehow stumbled from food/recipe videos to watching DIY Rainbow Highlighters on Youtube. Though a bit time consuming, it doesn’t look too hard and could be a fun project. I really liked this one and how she showed a more practical option too.

Announcement: be sure to check back here tomorrow as I am launching a new series to the blog tomorrow. Hint, it involves Yoga, so I hope you will come back and check it out.

If you have experience with any foot tendonitis, I would love any suggestions you might have.

Being Productive, 11:11 and 2 years – Thinking Out Loud #50

June 16, 2016 by Alicia 2 Comments

Hey everyone!! Happy Thursday!! We have almost made it through another week. I am just happy because after this week I have a 4 day week next week and it’s almost July when I have some travel plans coming up, but I am certainly not wishing away June by any means. In fact, I think this month has been a lot more productive already than May was and I am quite happy about that.

It’s time for some Thursday ramblings around here. Thanks Amanda

My no Netflix in the morning rule has been great this month, at least for those weekday mornings. Actually this week has been so busy that I haven’t watched tv or Netflix once. I am hoping to continue that which shouldn’t be too hard considering it is Thursday already.
I feel like I go through phases where I see 11:11 or 1:11 at least once a day. I was busy on and off the phone yesterday morning but when I hung up from a call, I caught 11:11. I know the meaning behind the 1’s is very important. I felt closed off, almost lost last Friday but after a talk with my fiance, I really opened up and changed my energy to more positive thoughts and working harder. I believe that is why I keep seeing 11:11 and it encourages me to continue making progress towards my goals.
My current personal development book. This book totally makes me think in a different way. I am only about 20 pages in and love it already. Sooo much thinking, but that is better than brain draining in front of the tv.
Today is a big day, it’s my official 2 years at my current company. It’s the longest I have been in 1 job, post graduation (which was only 4 years ago, but still). I made myself this cupcake recipe over the weekend and brought in cupcakes on Monday to work. They were delicious and you can bet I will be making more cashew buttercream frosting in the future.
2 cupcakes for 2 years (the recipe makes 12 don’t worry)
It is also 2 years since I got accepted to the yoga teacher training I completed. I still can’t believe it has been just over a year since we graduated the training. As much as I love having my weekends back, I miss hanging out with all my yogis.
Completely random, but my latest favorite dessert is a teaspoon of chia seeds, a teaspoon of Wild Friends Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter and some dark chocolate chips and a couple cut up strawberries. I’d show you a picture but it is not very attractive to look at, so you will just have to try it if you are looking for something sweet and not too unhealthy after dinner. Plus I bought 2 lbs of strawberries and needed to eat them quickly. No complaints, I love strawberries!!

That pretty much wraps up what has been going on with me lately. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Anybody else love berry season? Strawberries, blueberries, give me all the berries!!

Do you ever see repeating numbers like 1111?

OMG I ate a Poptart: TOL#49

June 2, 2016 by Alicia 10 Comments

It’s funny how my office just finished an 8 week biggest loser competition for getting in shape for summer and Tuesday someone brought in a box of smores poptarts. I never buy poptarts seeing as they aren’t that great for you and it’s just me so eventually I would end up eating the whole box sooner rather than later. However, I decided to go for a mid morning snack and open a packet and take 1 poptart. Well you would have thought that was a crime when one co worker said to me, “I can’t believe you are eating a pop tart”.

Can I just say I love poptarts, preferably the brown sugar kind. Sure a lot of people classify them as bad. Yes I do love my vegetables and my daily salads but I also love chocolate, cookies and the occasional pop tart.

Growing up, my parents didn’t buy pop tarts. Let me rephrase, my mom didn’t buy poptarts but my dad would hide a box in his office sometimes. It was a treat to get a poptart (as it should be, in my opinion).
It shouldn’t bother me but it really does bother me when people call me skinny or when someone tells me you can shop at that store and get loads of stuff because you are so small.

I know we all tend to judge and look only on the outside. There are all different shapes and sizes of bodies, but some people can’t help that they are thin, they may have fast metabolisms or it is in their genes, same goes for the opposite being on the heavier side. Note, I only said some, but you don’t know the person’s story or history.

I love how far I have come to loving my body and I have certainly put in work for it. I used to not exercise at all except for gym class. The summer before I joined the swim team my sophomore year of high school, I had to go to the doctor since it was required to be on a sport. My doctor basically told me I was really out of shape (I didn’t look it, by the way) after making me run up and down the hospital stairs. My interpretation from the doctor’s words was that maybe I shouldn’t be on the swim team. I left crying in the elevator with my dad and my dad started to bring me to the gym for the summer. We would work on some weight machines and the treadmill etc. I wasn’t that into working out at that point but enjoyed learning a bit. I know I was one of the slowest swimmers (thank goodness swimming was a no cut sport) but you know what? I showed up for practice everyday and I stuck it through the whole season. I left a better and stronger swimmer.

I discovered weight lifting in college and I have never looked back. I had no idea that the gym and fitness would become such a big hobby for me in the future. I then got into healthy eating only a few years ago but I still believe in moderation. One poptart isn’t going to kill me.

At this point in my life I am not training for anything specific that I need to have perfect macros or anything. In fact I am really proud of just how far I have come in the last year. I feel healthier, both mentally and physically.

I am still working on improving and finding balance as we always are but for now I am really happy where I am. I think I read on an Instagram feed one time, “you have to be happy with your body at every stage”. Do I want to have a flatter tummy? Sure, but right now I feel I am at a good place. I continue to remind myself that I am happy with my body and that is all that matters. Ignoring the comments and judgement is definitely hard, but I believe you also become a stronger person because of it. “Embrace and love your body, it is the most amazing thing you will ever own”. For me, sometimes that means I will eat a poptart and I don’t feel guilty or bad about it.

Thanks Amanda for letting me Think Out loud.

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