Meg Evans

Since December, I’ve been getting exercise every day on a rowing machine in my basement, which came from a Black Friday sale at Best Buy. I hadn’t expected to gain a lot of fitness from it because, for several years, I had been rowing on the river four or five times a week, when the weather was good, so I thought it would be about the same.

Then I started going faster on it, although my workouts didn’t feel more difficult, and my husband said I was looking more fit. There is a weekly online race, which gives me a good opportunity to measure my progress. I definitely have a little more “umph” than I had last year. Putting regular exercise into my daily schedule was more of an improvement than I expected. That is often what results from better habits!

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

My workday started with an online meeting in which I had to present information relating to a project. After I joined the meeting, I realized that I had forgotten to put water in a small fountain on top of my file cabinet. It wasn’t gurgling that loudly, and I didn’t think anyone would care if they heard it anyway; but it got me distracted and out of my flow.

Things went downhill from there. I felt like I was stumbling over my words, couldn’t get my thoughts straight, was taking too much time and causing the meeting to run late, and had messed things all up and was a failure in general. I spent the next few hours wondering if everyone saw me as having a big “S” on my chest for “screwup” rather than Superman.

Although I kind of realized that those feelings were way out of proportion to the real situation, I just couldn’t shake them. For lack of any better ideas, I put a load of laundry in the washer during my lunch break and then exercised for a while, which helped to calm me down somewhat.

When I sat back down at my desk, my inbox had a very positive email from the meeting organizer, thanking me for presenting the information and telling me how helpful I had been. He told me that he particularly appreciated my willingness to take enough time to make sure everyone understood.

That was a very welcome reminder to keep small mistakes in perspective—after all, they’re just part of life.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

When we can’t keep to our usual routines, we feel more stressed. Although today’s culture often dismisses such feelings as showing weakness or lack of mental flexibility, I believe it’s fair to say that needing routines is just human nature. Routines serve the useful function of reducing stress by limiting the number of decision points we encounter as we go through the day. Decisions, even small ones made without much conscious thought, increase stress because there is always a risk of making a mistake.

It only makes the situation worse if we judge ourselves harshly for feeling stressed. Instead, we need to take especially good care of ourselves when facing disruptions outside our control. There is nothing wrong or selfish about calming ourselves in times of crisis with small comforting routines. Even if it’s as simple as enjoying a cup of tea, taking time for self-care goes a long way toward staying healthy.

Addendum: I posted this entry on Friday morning because I couldn’t get into my blog Thursday evening due to hosting company maintenance. That suits the topic of dealing with disruptions, I suppose.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

All those days of rushing around from one thing to another, while wishing that life wouldn’t be as hectic, seem so far away now. The to-do lists feel like ancient history. Life has slowed down to a trickle, a meandering stream—this day, this moment, this breath.

When was it that I needed to keep reminding myself to live in the present? That seems so very long ago.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

While my husband and I are staying in the house and sharing our home office space, we’re trying to keep each other cheerful. All those little things we used to worry about—well, they’re not even worth mentioning. And now, more than ever, a smile or an encouraging word can make all the difference in how the day goes.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I like toaster corn muffins, but I don’t often see them here in Ohio because they are mainly a Southern food. When I went to get groceries on Monday, I wasn’t thinking about them at all. I just wanted to stock up on basic items because of all the reports of panic buying and bare shelves.

The bread aisle was empty of almost everything, but there were still some hamburger buns. That was the only bread item on my list, so it seemed like my grocery trip was going okay even before I looked at a small center display, which had just been stocked with—toaster corn muffins. Yum!

Whatever you’re doing this week, I hope that you also have some happy little things to keep your spirits up. Stay safe, do what you can—and keep in mind that we are going to get through this.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

While I was sitting down to write a post for today, my husband was listening to “Better in Time” by Leona Lewis. The song’s refrain is “It’ll all get better in time.” That message, however simple, is well worth keeping in mind. Even on days when we have to deal with all kinds of problems and confusion, something good will come along, all in its time.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

I was practicing mindfulness this evening while cleaning up after dinner. While I was standing at the kitchen sink, a negative thought wandered into my head, along the lines of “what’s the point of being mindful about a boring everyday chore.”

To deal with that, I started composing a mental list of reasons to be grateful. Obviously, having a good dinner was at the top of the list. The dishwasher deserved gratitude for making the chore much easier. I was standing on a comfortable mat in front of the sink. The house was warm and the kitchen well lit. Even something as simple as hot running water earned a place on the gratitude list, especially after we had two water outages last year (caused by a water main break and a tornado).

After I had brought into my conscious awareness all the little things in the moment for which I was grateful, I felt pretty good—so, I would say that the mindfulness practice was a success.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

This week I’ve felt like my energy is all tangled up in some sort of mental static, buzzing at me just below the threshold of conscious awareness. Probably the change of seasons has something to do with it, and maybe I need more sleep. Whatever it is, I keep reminding myself to slow down, just breathe, and be present in the moment. Patience heals many things.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.

While I was doing my grocery shopping today, the woman behind me in the checkout line introduced herself, said that she went to the same gym with my husband and daughter a few years ago, and asked me to tell them that she said hello.

I thought at first that she must have an excellent memory for faces, recognizing me when I wasn’t a member of that gym. She couldn’t have seen me more than a few times. But then my husband pointed out that his Facebook photo includes me, so that probably was how she knew my face.

Anyway, however it might have happened, it was nice to get an unexpected cheerful greeting while I was just buying groceries, and it left me smiling.

Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to “give this planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.” Visit her site to find more Nurturing Thursday posts and a list of frequent contributors.