Motivate, re-dedicate

For once, this is not a race report, it’s a vacation report.  I finally took a meaningful vacation.  As in, out of town, away from my normal stomping grounds, friends, and home.  I spent the weekend camping with an entirely different set of friends, many I haven’t seen in a long time.

I think a great barometer of the quality of a friendship is how “resumable” it is.  When you graduate high school and then college, and then move away, you find yourself wanting to keep in touch, and maybe you’re successful for a bit.  But over time, people get busy, and life happens.  This is why I love my Memorial Day weekend trip.  It’s called Dogpatch, and it’s a big ass reunion.  And you can tell who’s different, which connections are weaker or stronger.  And it’s good to know that when I came back, I felt like all the friendships resumed.

To be sure, Austin is now home for me (I miss it when I’m gone, and I do miss my Austin friends just as much as my California friends these days).  But California sure feels great when I make it back here.  Why?  The ability to totally reset.

There’s no better way to take things into perspective than getting the hell out of dodge for a bit.  And while we have no wifi or cell reception at Dogpatch, the Starbucks 4 miles away does.  So I can make a quick trip back into town to catch up on reality if I want.  And in my reality scanning while waiting for my Venti Iced Americano, I came across a post by lifestyle coaches Melissa Urban and Dallas Hartwig (aside: just reading Melissa and Dallas’ material is awesome. you should do it too) about their Whole30 participants sticking to the diet (and their commitments) during the long weekend.  Nutrition aside, there’s one line in particular that struck me:

Take a minute today and list one thing in comments that is significantly better NOW than it was two weeks ago, thanks to your Whole30 efforts.

I’m not participating in this round of the Whole30, but if you’ve followed my blog, you’ve noticed that I have a lot going on lately, both personally, professionally, and in my weekend warrior endeavors.  So as part of my reset button, I’ve instituted some Whole30 tenets that I know have worked for me in the past.  No need to list those here, because my point is that regardless of what you’ve been up to, go back to the bold text, read it, and do it.

After two weeks, reduced training volume, some serious deadlines checked off, and a slight cortisol management scheme, I feel like I’ve got my groove back. Energy levels are back up and steady, I’m back to making progress in the gym, and most importantly I’m back to feeling clear in my head.  I’m happier than I was even a few days ago.

Now I just need to find a way to keep it up when I get home.

The last line from that post that I need to share:

Motivate, re-dedicate, and then get out there and enjoy your holiday weekend.

Replace “holiday weekend” with “life.”  Motivate, re-dedicate, and then get out there and enjoy your life.