Category: health

Thankful Thursday 7: Birthday Week

Welcome to the seventh instalment of my Thankful Thursday! This week’s theme is my birthday week. Sadly, I’m a day late again, but I’m vowing not to make it a trend! Next week’s Thankful Thursday will come out on Thursday.

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for my life in general and what turning 27 has meant to me.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 25-May 31, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • The awesome birthday I had on Wednesday
    • Work was a low-stress day, and I had my prep block (on day 1 I teach all 4 blocks, but on day 2 I teach 3)
    • I got my free Starbucks birthday drink (Triple Venti Caramel Macchiato)
    • Andrew and I went to dinner at Earl’s and watched the hockey and tennis
    • Then we went to see Deadpool 2 which was HILARIOUS

The title of this post, Birthday Week!

  • Every year on my birthday, I naturally get retrospective about the last year. Usually this leads to gratitude. My 20s have been incredibly eventful so far, and I have so much to be thankful for, this year especially!
    • I finished my Diploma in Guidance Studies, the first step to becoming a counsellor.
    • I got a full-time continuing contract with West Vancouver Schools, at the school I’m at this year. For all you NB’ers, this means a B contract. I’m here to stay!
    • I got accepted to my Master’s program of choice at UBC, School Counselling. This will be my fourth (and last!!!) university program. I’m very excited to start in September (and excited to finish May 2021).
    • I coached three rugby teams (girls’ age-grade club, high school girls, and girls’ PRCs).
    • I signed up for two more half marathons and ran one (the next is June 24th, and I’m rehabbing my butt off to be able to run it!).
    • Andrew and I got to spend a rejuvenating weekend in Whistler around our second wedding anniversary.
    • We also got to go to Calgary for Christmas and spend a week with family.
    • I travelled to Cuba with Mom for a week over Spring Break.
    • Both Andrew and I are feeling happier than ever and really excited about our life plans.
  • Life is pretty good, and on my 27th birthday I was and am feeling really grateful for my past 27 years of life. I’m working in a professional field that I love, and I get to write and be creative and read like a fiend in my spare time. I’m active and do community activities, and I hang out with friends virtually and in-person often. Mental health is a struggle as it always has been, but I’m really getting good at appreciating what I have. Here’s to my 28th year!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Related posts:

  1. Thankful Thursday 6: Organization
  2. Thankful Thursday 3: Slowing Down
  3. Thankful Thursday 1: An Introduction
  4. Thankful Thursday 5: Restoration

Thankful Thursday 6: Organization

Welcome to the sixth instalment of my Thankful Thursday! This week’s theme is organization, but ironically, this is the week that it went off the rails a little (considering today is actually Friday). I knew it would happen eventually. It also makes a lot of sense to me that the first time it would happen during a holiday week.

This week I’m focusing on gratitude for the organization I’m making happen in my life.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 18-May 24, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • All of the amazing food I’ve eaten this week
    • Drinks and appies at Uva with my best friend, and then pizza and a s’mores calzone at Firecrust!
      Drinks at Uva.
      The arancini we ate at Uva.
      My build-your-own pizza.

      The s’mores calzone!
    • Brunch (and dessert) (and coffee coffee coffee) at Craft Beer Market in False Creek (this is my husband and I’s favourite weekend spot).
      The beautiful view near our favourite brunch place in False Creek.

      It’s called “dessert in a jar.” It’s awesome. Banana, chocolate sauce, toffee, ice cream, brownie, and whipped cream. Two spoons, of course.
    • Free popcorn and pop (and nachos we paid for) at the advanced showing of Solo: A Star Wars Story that we got to see through Andrew’s work. I’m also grateful for getting to go see the movie early!
    • Coffee at Matchstick with another best friend!
    • A delicious Starbucks breakfast with Andrew on the holiday Monday
  •  I had a guest speaker in for most of the week in my Planning 10 classes, which meant that I got a bit of a break at work. Of course I was still in all of my classes, but I didn’t have to plan the lessons, which was really nice for a change.
  • As I mentioned above, we had a long weekend for Victoria Day, and I’m really thankful for that! Andrew now gets his holiday Mondays off, which is really nice because we get to spend time together.
  • In addition to the holiday Monday, Friday was a Professional Development Day (in BC we call them Pro-D), which meant that I got to go to work and get a lot of things done and organized. Speaking of which…

The title of this post, Organization!

  • There are two main reasons that I chose organization for this week’s gratitude theme. One is that because I had a guest speaker in many of my classes and a Pro-D on Friday, I had a lot of opportunities to get organized at work. The other is that I got a burst of inspiration over the long weekend for how to further organize our home.
  • I’m always grateful for the opportunity to do some organization for work. Teaching 7 different classes with only 1h20 to prep once every two days leads to a lot of organizational backlog sometimes. It’s hard to stay on top of things. The Pro-D day really helped. Most of the time we have organized activities on these days, but this time we just got time to work on new curriculum implementation, and I got a lot of things done. It felt great!
  • Also, now and then I start to go stir crazy in our apartment. So I’m really thankful for the spark of inspiration and motivation I got over the weekend to change things up a bit. We have a kind of useless space between where our kitchen and entryway are, and our living room. We’ve had a small dining table there for the last while, but we never eat at it – we tended to use it for food storage instead. It was really a wasted space. So I decided that it would be a great idea to do away with the table and  get a big shelving unit for that wall area instead. We decided on Sunday, and off we went to IKEA on the holiday Monday. I had the shelf together by Monday evening, and I’ve spent the rest of the week moving things around and organizing. It’s been great! Here’s the process:
    BEFORE: The awkward space in our apartment. At this point, I had already taken apart the dining table, but for reference, that square piece of glass was the top of it, and the table was in the left-hand corner.
    The shelf, put together!

    The shelf, mid organizing! This is about where we’re at right now. More to come later!

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Related posts:

  1. Thankful Thursday 7: Birthday Week
  2. Thankful Thursday 1: An Introduction
  3. Thankful Thursday 8: Healing
  4. Thankful Thursday 14: Home(body)

Thankful Thursday 5: Restoration

Welcome to the fifth instalment of my Thankful Thursday. I can’t believe it’s been a month of doing this already! This week I’m focusing on gratitude for the restoration that’s going on in my life.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 11-May 17, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • This week Andrew had a big win at work which I’m thankful for and really excited about.
  • I’m also thankful for the delicious Breka treats we got to celebrate that win – donuts and torte!
  • For another week, it’s been hot and sunny. We actually hit a temperature record here in Vancouver on Monday at 25 degrees Celsius! Over the past couple days it’s cooled down a bit, but it’s still not rainy, which is awesome.
  • These beautiful flowers:
Across the street from home.
On my walk from the parking lot into work.
  • As usual, I spent a big chunk of time with my best friend over the weekend doing work (teachers don’t just work M-F 8-3!!). I was super productive. I’ve had a lot of marking hanging over my head for a few weeks now and I managed to finish ALL OF IT!

And the title of this post, Restoration!

  • The main reason I chose restoration for this week’s gratitude theme is that I’m working on restoring my hip to full health.
  • I’m thankful for the good chiro session I had last Thursday, which helped.
  • I also went to physio on Monday and Wednesday. I’m thankful to my friend Sagal, who recommended the physiotherapist that I saw and liked. I’m also thankful that he determined that I likely haven’t actually injured anything. I just have a LOT of sympathetic/compensatory tightness after twisting my hip a bit coaching rugby. I also made it angry without giving it the rest it needed. Lesson learned.
  • In the same vein, I’m thankful that my physiotherapist now thinks it’s within reason to aim for me to be able to run the next half I’m registered for, the Scotia Half toward the end of June!
  • At yesterday’s appointment, my physio did IMS which is probably the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced. It’s not exactly painful, but it made the insides of my muscles twitch involuntarily, which he said was textbook. Now that I’ve rested and my muscles have recovered a bit, my hip is feeling miles better, which is amazing.
  • This restoration of my body that I’ve done while resting post-BMO half has also allowed some other types of restoration to happen.
  • The state of our apartment tends to run on a sliding scale exactly the opposite of the sliding scale that shows how busy we are. Training for a half-marathon takes about 10 hours a week. When you’re working full-time and coaching a high school sport and tutoring, there’s not much time for a clean kitchen or clothes. Now that the rugby season is over and I’m resting, the dishes are getting done with more regularity, which does wonders for my mental health (I’m not exaggerating).
  • I’m also thankful to restore some of my time writing and planning, which really fell off the table during the busy season.

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Related posts:

  1. Thankful Thursday 4: Motivation
  2. Thankful Thursday 3: Slowing Down
  3. Thankful Thursday 7: Birthday Week
  4. Thankful Thursday 10: Wrapping up

Thankful Thursday 4: Motivation

Welcome to the fourth week of my Thankful Thursday. This week has flown by, and this time I’m focusing on gratitude for getting my motivation back.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of May 4-May 10, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • I was able to run my half-marathon on Sunday. My hip gave out at around 13-14km in. I ended up missing my PB by 6 seconds, but I did PB the first 5k (28:31) and 10k (1:00:15), which I’m proud of.
I did it!
  • It was also really great to have Dad, Sharon, and Andrew all at the finish line cheering me on.
Part one of the cheer squad.
Part two of the cheer squad.
  • I felt like I was going to die for the last 400 metres and their cheering really got me over the finish line!
Me feeling like I’m going to die.
  • I’m also thankful for all the awesome signs that people held along the course. Some of my favourites:
    • If Trump can run, so can you
    • Run quietly, I’m hungover
    • Smile, you paid to do this
    • Go random stranger go
    • Worst parade ever
    • Run like someone called you a jogger
  • The weather has been pretty consistently good once again, and I’m really enjoying the sun
  • We’ve had a few really nice dinners and visits with my Dad and Sharon and got to play Mario Kart together (I’ll let you imagine who won, lol)
  • Since my hip flexor is pretty sore after the run, I’m now on a complete rest period until it’s entirely better. It’s nice to be forced to slow down after 5 months of non-stop training.
  • I’ve also booked a chiro appointment and a physio session, which I’m really excited about. Chiro is today, I can’t wait!

Motivation

  • And the title of this post, motivation! For most of March and April, I had totally lost all my motivation, and over the past week it’s finally felt like it’s coming back. I think that some of this could be due to the change in my thyroid meds, which really has lessened my levels of fatigue. My counselling appointment on Tuesday really helped, also. Those sessions really help me process all the things going through my head at a mile a minute. I also think the sun and the longer days are helpful as well. It’s nice to get home from work and still have at least 3-4 hours of sunlight left both for energy and to bask in.
  • I’ve also been reading more. The catalyst for this was realizing that I had an Advanced Reader Copy of a book to read and review two days before the due date.

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Related posts:

  1. Thankful Thursday 3: Slowing Down
  2. Thankful Thursday 5: Restoration
  3. Thankful Thursday 10: Wrapping up
  4. Thankful Thursday 9: The Little Things

Thankful Thursday 3: Slowing Down

Welcome to the third week of my Thankful Thursday, this time with a focus on slowing down.

Here’s my Thankful Thursday for the Week of April 27- May 3, 2018!

Things I am thankful for this week:

  • My hip is still pretty messed up but I went to chiro again and it was magical. This is the best chiropractor I have ever seen (and I’ve seen my fair share).
  • Also, I’m still able to run (albeit in pain) which means I’ll still be able to run Sunday’s race.
  • In the same vein… there are only three days until the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon! I’m excited and nervous all at once. Five months of training and it’s nearly here!
  • I can feel the difference my new thyroid meds are making already. It could easily be placebo, but I’m sleeping less (more like 8 hours instead of 9) and still feeling rested. My mood is also higher and I’m more motivated and productive.
  • Dad and Sharon arrived safely in Vancouver and are staying really close to my place for two weeks! I’m so excited to have them cheer me on at my race.
  • We got a thank you card in the mail from friends we gave a gift to for their new baby.
  • My husband and I are quite possibly happier than we ever have been. We’ve always been happy, but things are just pretty swell right now, and we’re both taking notice. It’s awesome.
  • This 6am sunrise on my last training run before cutting things off to rest my hip:

Slowing Down

  • And the title of this post, slowing down! Because my hip and quad have been bothering me so much, I’ve cut some training runs out of my schedule and am spending a lot of time contrasting (ice and heat), and using my foam roller. It’s forcing me to slow down a bit and it feels nice, even though the injury itself is un-fun and stressful.
  • I’ve also been reading more. The catalyst for this was realizing that I had an Advanced Reader Copy of a book to read and review two days before the due date. So it forced me to spend a lot of Sunday and Monday reading. I managed to get the review published on time, which was great.

There you have it!

So, that’s my Thankful Thursday list for this sunny week. I hope it inspires you to make your own, and get on that gratitude train!

Peace and love,

Bee

Related posts:

  1. Thankful Thursday 2: Sunny Vancouver Spring
  2. Thankful Thursday 7: Birthday Week
  3. Thankful Thursday 4: Motivation
  4. Thankful Thursday 10: Wrapping up