Meg Evans

My rowing partner Deb ordered a new single scull today. She had been rowing a used boat that was too big for her. Although she prefers team boats, she got a single during the pandemic, when there was no team rowing. Going out on the river in a single made her nervous, as they are tippy boats in general, and more so when they’re too big for the rower. At first, she was slow.

She persevered, though, and dutifully went out on the river all spring and summer to do the exercises on her training plan, even when the weather was rainy or windy. Now she is noticeably faster in the single. When her new boat gets delivered and she has one that’s the right size for her, I expect she’ll win a lot of races (and probably leave me far behind, if we’re in the same race). Persistence really does pay off.

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.”

I came home from vacation on Monday evening, and since then I’ve been feeling much refreshed. According to my Fitbit, my resting heart rate has gone down several beats. I’ve had dreams in which I am very healthy, adventurous, and full of energy. Although the partial scenes I remembered after waking up were not totally clear, all of them left me feeling good.

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.”

I’ve been on vacation this week, in Sarasota, with my husband and some friends who are rowing with us at the Masters Nationals regatta. Today was the first day of racing, and I had a busy schedule, with two quads (4-person sculling boats) and my single. The first quad was a women’s lightweight crew. We got down the course pretty fast and won second place. Then I rowed in a mixed quad with my husband and two friends who also rowed a quad with us at last summer’s regatta. We improved on our performance from the previous year and took third place.

By the time I rowed the single later in the day, I didn’t have much energy left, and I ended up finishing last. Still, I felt that I was rowing smoothly and not making mistakes, which was something. Every time I go out in the single, I feel just a little more comfortable in it. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have thought there was any possibility I would race a single scull at major regattas. They are tiny boats that feel as if they could tip over at any time (although they don’t really). It takes some persistence to get out and row one anyway.

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.”

While taking a break from my work this morning, I went out to the backyard and walked along the row of willows that I’ve been trying to keep alive. All of the willow bushes (they are no longer big enough to be called trees) are still surviving, although climate change stress has killed a few more branches that I’ll have to cut back in the fall.

I felt pretty cheerful when I saw that all the cuttings that I planted earlier this year are looking good. Even when it seems as if the world is falling apart, Nature just keeps on going, like the loving mother that she is, always finding ways to come back from adversity.

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.”

Although I had been planning to row after work on Wednesday with my husband and my teammate Deb, the weather did not cooperate. What had been forecast as a small chance of rain turned into a downpour that went on, and on, and on. We stood in the boathouse for a long time, just watching it come down.

Deb and I got into a conversation about how nice and cozy it would be to sit at home drinking hot tea while watching the rain. After a while the sun came out, and we saw a rainbow. By then we had given up on trying to row. The river surely would have been full of dead branches and other debris after so much rain. The parking lot had gigantic puddles. I was wearing my water shoes, but there was no way I could step carefully enough to avoid getting my socks wet.

Watching me try to pick my way through the puddles, Deb just grinned and said “Squoosh! Squoosh!”

“We can always pretend to be kids and jump in the puddles,” I answered, now feeling more cheerful.

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.”

Some days I wonder where my time has been going. Today didn’t seem particularly busy—just my usual work, doing some laundry, going to get groceries, and a workout on the rowing machine. Even so, it didn’t seem as if I’d had much quiet time to relax.

Sitting down to write my Nurturing Thursday entry, I decided to go with this word-art image, which caught my attention recently:

I’m not entirely sure that I agree with the idea of categorizing each moment as either positive or negative. Life is much more nuanced than that, and some moments feel as if they are neutral—just drifting along, without much impact one way or another.

Still, it’s a good reminder that even when we don’t seem to be doing much, there may be patterns going on beneath the surface that need to be examined. As for wondering where time has been going, it would be a good idea to change the “never enough time” subconscious narrative to a more self-nurturing perspective, such as having plenty of time to do whatever I want—and then make sure to follow up on it by taking the time to do something fun.

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.”

My husband enjoys being a rowing referee, and last weekend he drove to Chicago to work at a regatta there. He took some photos, which he shared with me, and said that it would be a great place for our team to go next year. The course does indeed look beautiful:

Although he asked me whether I’d like to come along, I declined. Our trip to Philadelphia over Independence Day weekend was a fun adventure, but I just can’t be on the go all the time. Instead, I spent a quiet weekend reading on my Kindle and puttering around in the yard.

I am still trying to find that elusive balance between drawing energy from new activities and giving myself enough time to relax so that the energy doesn’t all drain away. It probably will feel much easier once I develop a better sense of it.

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.”

Sometimes, at the end of a workday, right after I shut down the computer and get up from the desk chair, my first thought is, “Now what do I have to do next?” It’s not because I really have tons of obligations. Rather, it seems to happen mainly on days when I don’t actually have much to do. Because modern society is so busy, a quiet evening without much to do feels a bit ominous, as if something must have been forgotten.

When that happened to me after work today, I considered whether there might really be something I needed to do, but very little came to mind other than writing this post and doing some gentle exercises with a soft foam roller. I had already worked out on the rowing machine during my midday break (16 intervals of 200 meters, which was plenty). I decided that just letting myself be aware of these feelings, and just breathing, would be enough entries on the to-do list for now.

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.”