2019 in the Rear View
In my first post of 2019 I promised to start prioritizing myself again. I'll give you one guess as to where I fell on the priority list this year: I think we all know it was last. In a life that's moving at warp speed, finding time to do the things that are important to me - namely exercise, reading, sleeping - has been difficult. If anything I only became further entrenched in work and busy, and in 2020 that has to stop. No it will stop because this pace is unsustainable. And for the love of God I need sleep.
In 2019 I discovered Melatonin, and it has very quickly become my best friend. But even with that I have many nights where I can't turn off my brain. This week I came home after a city council meeting Monday night and stayed up with my husband to watch a few shows. I went to bed around 11:30 (very late for me), but then my phone rang at midnight with a call from our police department. When my son woke up at 4:45 am I guzzled two cups of coffee and was on it. But five hours of sleep (which is not an unusual amount for me these days) is not sustainable.
I thought I would be back to running with a vengeance this year, and other than a handful of 5ks, a 5-mile trail run and a 5-mile team relay I didn't do too much. My times were sluggish, and I wasn't motivated. I did join a boxing gym last December, and I fit in a few days a week in classes or with a trainer. Hitting things helps. But in 2020 I have to prioritize fitness. Maybe I'm not ever going to run as much as I was three or four years ago, but I have to have some sort of regular routine that fuels my body and my soul.
It didn't feel like we traveled much this year, but looking back at the calendar we still managed a few trips. We went to Fort Myers, Florida twice in the winter, visited West Virginia five times, spent a weekend on Mackinac Island and another in Chicago, vacationed in Nashville for a week, spent Labor Day in Northern Michigan, an adult-only weekend in Boston and spent a week in Pennsylvania with family for Christmas. On top of the personal trips I traveled for work with a week in Boston, a few days in Gary, Indiana, a quick trip to Chicago and a few days in Atlanta. It turns out it was a busy year for travel.
After a few relatively healthy Crohn's years I ended up with a bowel obstruction in September and spent five days in the hospital. This was my first hospitalization in 2½ years, and it was really hard. I was among the sickest I've ever been (which is saying a lot), and it took me weeks to recover. With my busy life - job, small human, all the busy - it felt like I'd never get back to full steam. And if I'm being honest? Three months later I'm still not 100 percent. I go to sleep really early, my stomach is regularly a bit of a mess, and I know I'm not taking care of myself.
The week of Christmas was a rough one in Pennsylvania with my being sick all week. I ended up with a bout of bronchitis, and our small human was diagnosed with strep throat. My body seems to be screaming at me to simmer down.
What does all of this mean going into 2020? I need to reassess. I need to take me time, mental health time, and I need to remember that all of the work, the tasks and the busy will still be there if I ignore it for an hour. Or a day. Or a few days. We're entering a new year and a new decade. I am committing to settling into a new pace. There are no doubts that it will be busy, and I can't always control what the schedule looks like at work. But I can control how I react to the busy and how I take care of myself in the times when I'm able. Cheers to 2020!
In 2019 I discovered Melatonin, and it has very quickly become my best friend. But even with that I have many nights where I can't turn off my brain. This week I came home after a city council meeting Monday night and stayed up with my husband to watch a few shows. I went to bed around 11:30 (very late for me), but then my phone rang at midnight with a call from our police department. When my son woke up at 4:45 am I guzzled two cups of coffee and was on it. But five hours of sleep (which is not an unusual amount for me these days) is not sustainable.
I thought I would be back to running with a vengeance this year, and other than a handful of 5ks, a 5-mile trail run and a 5-mile team relay I didn't do too much. My times were sluggish, and I wasn't motivated. I did join a boxing gym last December, and I fit in a few days a week in classes or with a trainer. Hitting things helps. But in 2020 I have to prioritize fitness. Maybe I'm not ever going to run as much as I was three or four years ago, but I have to have some sort of regular routine that fuels my body and my soul.
It didn't feel like we traveled much this year, but looking back at the calendar we still managed a few trips. We went to Fort Myers, Florida twice in the winter, visited West Virginia five times, spent a weekend on Mackinac Island and another in Chicago, vacationed in Nashville for a week, spent Labor Day in Northern Michigan, an adult-only weekend in Boston and spent a week in Pennsylvania with family for Christmas. On top of the personal trips I traveled for work with a week in Boston, a few days in Gary, Indiana, a quick trip to Chicago and a few days in Atlanta. It turns out it was a busy year for travel.
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| A weekend on Mackinac Island |
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| Crawfish po boy to the face in Nashville |
The week of Christmas was a rough one in Pennsylvania with my being sick all week. I ended up with a bout of bronchitis, and our small human was diagnosed with strep throat. My body seems to be screaming at me to simmer down.
What does all of this mean going into 2020? I need to reassess. I need to take me time, mental health time, and I need to remember that all of the work, the tasks and the busy will still be there if I ignore it for an hour. Or a day. Or a few days. We're entering a new year and a new decade. I am committing to settling into a new pace. There are no doubts that it will be busy, and I can't always control what the schedule looks like at work. But I can control how I react to the busy and how I take care of myself in the times when I'm able. Cheers to 2020!
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