#1 Stress Reliever

The #1 Stress Reliever in life is being good at what you do.

I heard this statement expressed last Thursday at a GMA (Greensboro Merchants Association) event I attended. The keynote speaker was Tim Gard, a professional comic and speaker who delivered a presentation on reducing stress in the workplace by developing a comic vision.  

I'm in complete agreement with the sentiment.  I find I'm most stressed when I've branched myself out into areas where I'm not quite sure what I'm doing.  Having a full workload but knowing that you know how to accomplish all that's on your plate isn't anywhere near as stressful as a smaller workload where you feel like you're clearing a new path through the woods.

For example, last year when I was working on the text for my new cat book (details on that to follow soon), I was a basket case. How should I organize it? I didn't know. How should I pair the text with the pictures and illustrations? I didn't know. How should I...

There were a million questions and no clear answers. I was a ball of tension. I didn't just want to do the work. I wanted to do it right. If a similar project came along, I might still tense up on time frame, but the looming stress of the unknown would be gone.

I wonder how many people feel they are good at what they do? I would suspect most, but then why is there so much stress in the workplace? Is it because people are constantly being asked to learn new things? Seems like that's dependant on the job. Or is maybe feeling we have to prove to others that we know what we're doing?

Regardless, I found it an interesting tidbit to pass on to you.

Runner's Update: I thought I had really hurt my left knee. Was in a lot of pain on Saturday and it kept me up most of the night. But the kinks seemed to work themselves out on Sunday and now it feels fine. My back still aches though. It feels like someone took a bat to my lower ribs and shoulder blades. I skipped yoga this morning for fear of re-injury. May try an easy 3-mile jog tomorrow and see how that feels. 

8-mile run

Today marks the day when I ran the furthest I've ever run.  8 miles in 75 minutes.  I felt good enough to do another mile or two but stopped as I've read you shouldn't jump ahead to far too fast in a training routine as you're likely to do yourself  more harm then good.  But eight miles is  a good 3-4 miles more than a typical run so I'm thrilled.

Part of the reason for the ease of the run was different terrain. Royce, Marguarita and I drove into Greensboro this morning at 7:30 and met a friend of Royce's. (This friend is over 60 and averages 50 miles a week. He's in incredible shape.) But instead of running over traffic bridges and through scenic K-mart parking lots as we do in Madison, today we ran a hiking trail with trees creating a canopy shelter, wooden bridges that crossed lakes and beautiful scenery to look at.  It's so much easier to run when you're focused on how pretty the world is versus "I can't breath."

My challenge now is to increase not only time but the number of days I run each week. Right now, Tuesday and Thursday are running days along with one weekend day. I probably need to start doing Saturday and Sunday (one hard run, one easy) and maybe one more day during the week. Finding time is always a challenge but even if I just hopped on the treadmill for 3-4 miles one evening, that would help.

There's a 10k in Winston next weekend I might sign up for. See what I can do about increasing my time.

I hope everyone reading this is experiencing as beautiful a day as we are here in NC. It doesn't get much better than what's outside my window today.

Activity Ideas for a Pre-Teen?

At the end of this month our 11-year old niece Katlin is going to come up and spend the weekend with us and you all must help me. I want it to be one of those fun, magical, "Aunt Dena and Uncle Blair are the coolest people on the planet"  weekends. But I'm drawing a blank.

On our side is that this isn't one of those forced activities.  She wants  to come for the weekend.My sister-in-law shared with us that Katlin told her that if anything ever happened to them (meaning my sister-in-law and her husband, Katlin's parents), she wanted to live with Uncle Blair and Aunt Dena.  How precious is that, I ask you?

But what to do with a pre-teen in 100 degree North Carolina heat? If the river is up, we're thinking maybe a 3-hour kayacking trip. Also, Katlin has been to England several times and inherited her grandmother's teapot collection and is big into afternoon teas. She has a little recipe book for things like cucumber sandwiches, scones, and other snacks that go with tea so we thought we might spend some time in the kitchen. (I know, I know. I'll be careful. And hopefully Blair will be there to supervise in case we need to use the stove.)

But if anyone has any other ideas, send them on. I'd prefer it be a weekend spent bonding vs. watching movies or TV. I'm trying to remember what I liked to do when I was eleven. Play with  make-up? Ride bikes.  I also had my cousins around to play with and we did a lot of neighborhood activities. 

I caught the tail end of a report on NPR that said directors of national parks and other outdoor places are worried. It used to be American kids growing up spent the majority of their time outside either playing or working. But in the last several decades there's been a severe reversal and people--kids especially--don't go outside like they used to. This is translating into less people wanting to spend time camping, going to national parks or participating in any kind of touristy outdoor activities.  I hadn't thought about it in those terms, but that makes sense. As kids, our parents sent us outside in the summer with instructions to come home when the street lights came on. No way I'd do that with a child nowadays.

Sorry, got sidetracked. To sum up, please share any ideas you have for aunt-uncle-neice bonding time. Thanks! 

On Our Way Home

We should be on our way home now. If you're heard about any fires or disasters in the UK in the past 2 weeks, yeah, that was probably our fault. Can't wait to get home, cuddle with the cats, do laundry (laugh if you must, but it makes me happy) and sleep in my own bed. Exciting/Entertaining posts of our trip to come soon!