Ignore the sneezing. I’m healthy, I swear

by LesleyG on March 9, 2010

I can breathe today. Which is a massive improvement over yesterday, FYI.  I know writing about being sick on your blog is akin to writing about the amazing turkey sandwich you had for lunch, but I cannot seem to get around it. I’m sneezing every 48 seconds, and every time that happens I forget what I was doing. It’s a real problem when it happens in the bathroom, just so you know.

This also marks the THIRD time I’ve picked up some kind of virus in 2010 alone. For someone who has never had a legitimate sick day in her life, that’s wrong. I don’t get sick. But apparently being home and out of a disgusting office with ancient air circulating is good for everyone but me. I’m lucky that way.

Yesterday, before I felt really bad, I went to yoga. I thought maybe 90 minutes of hot, humid air would clear my head so that I could think again, so that I could do things that normal people do. At the beginning of class, the instructor generally shares something that is meant to help us with our intention during class. Yesterday, he suggested we appreciate our mental strength more than our physical strength, knowing that without that mental strength the physical would mean very little.

It makes sense, of course. Mental health is irreplaceable, and it’s the reason I could be there at all. Even with my head stuffed, feeling like it weighed 90 pounds, I could appreciate that.  And sitting here now, I’m reminded that that mental health was the reason I made the choice I did to leave that dirty, germ-filled office.  It wasn’t the germs that chased me out, of course, and obviously they’re still finding me, but it’s a good reminder that no matter what I face now, it is independent of the environment that was so bad for me.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think I left my old job at exactly the right time, at the very last moment that I could have. I knew my mental health was suffering and sticking it out was no longer an option. Not once have I looked back and thought I should have (or could have) stuck it out longer. This I know for sure.

If I had a few dollars for every time someone has told me how much better, happier, or healthier I look or act since I quit my job, I’d never have to work again. And they’re right, I am better. I am happier.  And, mostly, I am healthier.

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Spring brings a better version of home, of me

by LesleyG on March 5, 2010

So here’s a little story about how as soon as I restored the heat in my house (BY MYSELF) the weather here proceeded to be the nicest we’ve had all year. And that is saying a lot seeing as not six nights ago it was five degrees below zero. Except I’m not really going to tell the story about the heat or the lack thereof but instead just say that, OMG, there may be snow still ahead but there is hope for spring and that is all that matters.

Every single year, come February, I get so fed up with winter that I can barely stand myself. And then March comes and there’s some sign of hope and it’s almost as if you can smell the green in the air. Does that make sense? There’s a feeling about it. It comes over you. It makes you feel human again.

And, of course, me being me, there’s only one thing this translates to: get outside.  No longer do I have to suffer any snot-freezing, character-testing outside time. Whether I’m running or walking or hiking, it can be enjoyable. My muscles won’t reject movement. Colorado, for all it’s winter glory, is just that much better in the spring.

There’s a park not far from my house. It’s more of an open space, really, full of trails and bluffs and just general outdoors-ness. (Outdoors-ness is a technical term for “OMG I cannot believe we have this cool place right in the city!”) Being out there, sweating, makes me come alive again. No more frozen snot FTW!

I’ll usually run through this place, with friends on a summer Saturday morning, but yesterday I wanted to take more time outside, so we hiked. For two hours.  It was beautiful. I kicked myself for not having my camera, but luckily did have my phone, and so you can see what I’m talking about.

Do you see what I mean? For real.

Being on the downhill side of winter never felt so good.

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Wordless Wednesday: From dead thermostat to new thermostat to rewired furnace to, finally, heat! I, too, am tired of talking about it.

March 3, 2010
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What crazy people like to hear

March 2, 2010

I will never be that person in a room that’s constantly level-headed when everyone else is in chaos. Sure, I have my moments. I don’t panic nearly as often as I used to, I can handle an emergency (anyone’s blood but my own!*),  but I’m not built for constant. I think I’m either far too [...]

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58 degrees

February 28, 2010

I don’t think I’ve ever driven around this city more in the last ten years than I did last week. Everyone I know, or everyone related to me either had a car in the shop, or a scheduling conflict, or needed carpool help and a kid shuttled from here to there. I never mind this [...]

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Answers to questions—answers I didn’t even know I had

February 24, 2010

I thought I’d get over all the mushy feelings but then I read the comments and here I am again. Aww, Internet love. Thanks, everyone!  Never having been one to concentrate on getting people to this site (I’m not a sales person I guess) I found it so interesting reading how you got here, and [...]

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I’m alive! Blog rebirth, memories, and killin’ time with a Q & A

February 22, 2010

In my last post, oh, almost two weeks ago, I said I’d like to do something special for the four year anniversary of starting this site, like maybe a new design (viola!), or some kind of giveaway. Fun ideas. And then, as a surprise to everyone, I made it disappear!
Not that that was part [...]

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