I did an indoor rowing exercise this afternoon, consisting of four intervals of 5 minutes each. It was part of a weekly plan that my husband and I get from our online coaches. Last year, I was assigned a precise result for this same exercise: my time for each 500 meters (known in rowing jargon as the split) was to be 2:12.2. Over 5 minutes, that comes out to 1,135 meters. I was able to do it for each interval, but it felt exhausting.

The coaches weren’t so exact about it this year, and when I sat down on the machine, I had in mind that I would just try to stay somewhere around a 2:12 split and not worry about where it came out. The exercise felt like it had a much easier flow this time, and as it turned out, I still ended up with precisely 2:12.2 for each interval. Not overthinking it worked much better for me!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”