Practicing What I Preach

I've decided that I am going to write here more often. I might not always post to FB or Twitter, so check back if you want to keep reading. I also worked (kinda) hard to give my page a makeover yesterday, so I wanted to show that off too!

I had a rough morning. I have not been getting much sleep, and last night was no exception. I was up late last night because of a wonderful evening with friends to celebrate my birthday. I was also up early again this morning. I am on vacation from work this week, but my body doesn't realize that, so if any little thing wakes me up from 6am on, I am pretty much guaranteed to not be able to go back to sleep. So this morning, after about 4 hours of sleep overnight, I called to inquire about a change in my student loan payments, a task I had been avoiding all last week. The news I got was not good...my payments went up significantly more than I anticipated. After hanging up I couldn't help it-the tears started flowing. It was right then that Warren got up to find me making breakfast while crying. I don't think guys like walking in on those situations :)

The water works didn't last long, but I still felt pretty bummed. I thought about something I teach my students. HALT-it's an acronym that stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. It's a pretty basic idea. If you are one or more of those things, you are not going to be able to accept difficult things as easily, keep your emotions in check or make the best decisions. Babies show us this pretty well. If I see a toddler having a melt down in the grocery store the first thing I always think is "that must be one tired kid". My mini-meltdown was a combo this morning-tired and hungry. I still am bummed that my payments are going up, don't get me wrong. I am just aware that I probably wouldn't have cried about it if I wasn't running on little sleep and no breakfast. After eating breakfast, I decided to practice what I preach and do some things to clear my mind and hopefully feel better. I cleaned and then Warren and I went for a long walk, and it helped. So, remember, if you are feeling really bummed or down, do a quick check. If you are HALT tend to those first. It will help. That is also why I am going to take a nap right after posting this :)

On another note, I am going to attempt to complete a 6 mile run this week. I may not run the whole thing, but I have learned that taking walking breaks as a runner is ok, and pretty normal. As long as I can make the entire route I will be super excited. I will keep you posted!