Busy Busy Monday

A HA So I was contemplating the weekend first thing this morning and I realized that the incident with my neighbor yesterday was merely a reflection. I was in "lecture" mode with Balwan on Saturday. Therefore I myself got "lectured" yesterday. Yet another example of everything is ME pushed out isn't it? And so this morning I once again focused on MY internal state. I realize that my EGO is very good at creating distractions, which is why I need to be equally good at realizing when they come up and when I need to buckle down and focus, primarily on holding on to positive states. This morning that meant heading out early... as in 7:45 AM early and taking a walk. First that gets me a great start with my Monday-heavy-on-the steps routine, and second it does help me clear my head when I just appreciate another beautiful day and look at the sunrise in my Mar Vista neighborhood. This morning I did so imagining I was already a millionaire, retired and not needing to work, but involved in lots of other things <other than running an EPIC report which I did first thing this morning too>. I got to 4000 steps before I even took a shower this morning, fully remembering that a week ago I couldn't even do that because my hot water boiler blew. You can always find something to be thankful about, if just a nice hot shower. I was ready for a busy Monday. 9:30 AM meeting with the Data Analytics team and then the Business Continuity Meeting shortly thereafter... except that meeting got moved to this afternoon at 2 PM. I wonder why?! That would be 2 meetings in 2 days that did not go when planned. Hmmm.... No matter, I still had all the Covid Vaccination reporting to do and I still had to spend 15 minutes on the phone with the CaVax Help desk too. I walked to Ralphs to get lunch food since it was still a pretty nice day out. And by the time I had cooked and eaten my Meat Loaf, it was already 1:30 PM and I was already at 8000 steps. I'm good to go to finish on track with Monday workout. I was even thinking I could even sneak in a power nap sometime this afternoon just to augment the barely 5 hours of sleep that I got last night.  

But that nap was not to be. Not when Lisa called around 2 PM letting me know she is headed to the doctor's office yet again this afternoon. And that she needed to drop Johnnie off before 3 PM. Of course that would be right in the middle of my Business Continuity Meeting. I didn't care really, I get Johnnie early today and I don't even have to go to Lisa's house and help Johnnie put away his saved work! To me THAT IS A WIN! And so I did my Covid Vax reporting, hopped on my meeting and then stepped out for a couple of minutes to let Johnnie in. All before 2 PM. It wasn't until much later that I felt some overwhelm, probably a late reaction to everything going on at the same time.  I was making my stew-of-the-week, which this week was beef stew. I was cutting up the vegetables, and sauteed the top sirloin, made the rice and with all the stuff going on in the kitchen table, something made me snap. And I dropped the entire pot of rice right on the floor and right into the dog's food bowl. sigh. I realized at that point that I needed to do some kind of centering activity just to clear my head again.  Maybe I wasn't so ready to receive Johnnie and the dog earlier than usual after all. And so while my stew was cooking, while Johnnie was watching Raya and the Dragon again <see? I told you he would be stuck on it like he was Frozen 2 last year>, I went outside and did steps. I needed just 10 minutes to clear my head and it at least worked until it was dinner time. At least I got out of overwhelm mode. And I was able to let myself shift into normal Monday night mode. And I let the comfort and feeling of normalcy and a regular routine carry me for the rest of the evening. That and my hearty beef stew, which turned out pretty good even though I made the sauce from scratch and didn't buy that usual packet I would have bought before. This way was just as good! And I also finally caught my Journal up, which by itself also gave me a feeling of accomplishment. And when I looked at my Fitbit, I was already at 15000+ steps and 121 minutes by the time it was almost bedtime. Tonight I finally DO get caught up with sleep by hitting the sack early. Johnnie helped that because he too was tired. He complained about his stomach but I think he was simply ready to go to bed early. The dog was ready too. We were all in bed and fast asleep by 9:15.