Day 65: Stretch it, Still it, Walk it Out
The way that I needed these stretches today.
I’ve had a pretty high stress week, and I was definitely banking on these stretches and some Mindstilling today. I spent six hours yesterday working on the subscription recipes, and editing photos, and formats, and layouts, and rebuilding my Eat Like A Valkyrie page from scratch to try and bypass the issues I was having with the old one. In the end, I was successful and I got all my recipes posted by 11:31AM EST, the page is clean and informative, and I managed to gain a few subscribers already! I’m feeling super proud of my work, and grateful for a gentle weekend to lean into.
While I rearranged my schedule yesterday to make room for all that work in the morning, I did end up getting my workout in right around Noon yesterday. It was another Total Body Strength Day, and I noticed so many improvements in my form and my reps while I was moving. I love this sense of awareness I’ve developed, I love feeling my muscles find ease in a move I struggled with before, I love getting more reps in because I’m stronger, and noticing that I don’t lean into one side, or flail as badly, or shake as much- it’s all affirmation. All confirmation in what I’m doing.
It feels so good to feel good.
I dragged out my mat as soon as I got up and I did the stretches for today, and some Valkyrie Yoga 2, just because it felt right. Doing Valkyrie Yoga on the weekends as an accompaniment to the scheduled stretches has become my routine now, I always feel so alive and ready to do anything when I’m done. The improvements I’ve noticed in my Yoga practice lately have been wonderful too; the way I can hold Warrior 1 & 2 for longer than 10 seconds, the depth of my Downward Dog stretch, the strength in my shoulders. I don’t just feel stretched out and limber, I feel strong by the end of it. And that’s the real bulls eye right there: the feeling strong part.
The way this journey isn’t just about weight loss or eating right, but is about healing, developing real strength, body and mind.
I’m just sitting here reflecting on all the changes that have occurred since I started and I can’t name them all, some of them so seemingly insignificant I can’t pinpoint them, but others around me can. A long time friend of mine lives in Texas, and she told me just the other day, that the difference in my energy from 4 months ago to now is a tangible, palpable thing. She watched my Tiktok Videos from before Squad and then compared them to my more recent ones and she said she could feel it through the screen. She could feel the changes in me, not just see them on my body or my face, but the way I speak. The energy in my voice, in my eyes. My best friend who I see every week has said the same thing, that this bubbly, energetic, goofy person is here now in place of the depressed, empty version of me that was around for so long. I was so good at masking in my depression that she wasn’t even truly aware of how sad I was until she saw and felt how different my energy is now.
Weekends must just be for reflection. I feel like I make a post like this every other weekend, looking back on who I was and how I felt and how I’ve changed. It’s just so drastic, it’s hard for me not to evaluate it, so, sorry if it’s repetitive
I’ve chosen Mindstilling over stress numerous times this week, and I’m ever so grateful for Becca and her soothing voice guiding me through it all. I was definitely feeling like I bit off more than I could chew a few times, getting so overwhelmed with the work I had to do and the tech issues I was facing. I probably wasn’t super great to be around at the time! But those Mindstilling Audios, they saved my neck, and probably everyone around me too, from the major panic blow up that was bound to happen otherwise. Mindstilling kept me from biting everyone’s head off and spiraling into Overwhelm Paralysis, while I cooked, cleaned, homeschooled, wrote, tested, edited, and photographed, and edited some more. It was such a high stress week, I cortisol crashed last night at around 7:00pm and entered Pajama Potato Mode, and there I stayed until 7:00am today.
I finally feel well rested and after that stretching and yoga, I feel limber and energetic. I’m ready for today! Whatever it entails, I feel able bodied and my Mind calm and clear enough to handle it.
Yrsa has been staring at me doing her Tippy Taps for the last 15 minutes, because “It’s time to goooo, Mom, it’s time to go for our walk.” So I guess I better get out of my pj’s and get going before she gets into anything she shouldn’t- like the trash. Or the shoes. Or the winter gloves. She is a menace, and sometimes my love for her is questionable, I will admit it. It’s also supposed to be super cold and rainy today so I should definitely get this walk going before it’s too cold and miserable outside.
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