Meg Evans

When I sat down to compose my Nurturing Thursday entry, I got distracted and spent some time browsing through old stories and posts I wrote many years ago. I had meant to say something about those persistent feelings of always searching for a sense of direction, with a bright, shiny future somewhere just out of sight.

After looking at some of my past blog entries, though, I realized there had been quite a lot going on in my life, whether or not I’d been consciously aware of it. I had been growing my wings—much more than I knew.

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.”

This week I’ve been having an email conversation with a friend about the common belief that when we are not feeling energetic, it is because we are getting older. Although I have felt somewhat tired and run down this summer, it was clear enough, when I thought about it, that the culprit wasn’t the lurking gremlins of middle age but, instead, had to do with higher expectations and pushing myself to do more than usual.

On Monday morning, I went to the boathouse with my husband, and we rowed 21K as practice for traveling to the Chicago rowing half-marathon this coming weekend. Naturally, I felt more tired than when I was younger and didn’t take fitness as seriously! Keeping up with a demanding workout schedule and traveling to rowing competitions, while working full time (and some amount of overtime) was more than I once thought I could do. I haven’t, in fact, lost energy; instead, as the years went by, I overcame a significant number of limiting beliefs and set the bar much higher.

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.”

Too much work and not enough play have been making me dull this summer, or at least it feels that way. My mind needs to wander aimlessly and refresh itself. The long Labor Day weekend will be much welcomed. Giving myself (and anyone who needs it) a reminder to set aside enough time for play.

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 just finished an online restorative yoga exercise with the title “Finding Stillness.” It was as mellow as that name suggests, mainly involving supported positions where one is supposed to melt into the yoga blocks and let go of all the day’s work. Before that, I went for a long walk around my neighborhood while the sun was setting.

The August air still felt hot and heavy during my walk, but it was good to get outdoors anyway. My workday was long because I’ve been doing overtime this summer, and it took me a while to relax and settle into the rhythm of the walk. At first, the flowers and trees in the neighbors’ yards looked like random shapes without much meaning to them, after sitting at my desk all day staring at the monitor. But, after a while, the bright colors of the late-summer blossoms perked up my overtired brain a little more, and even the weeds left me smiling at Nature’s persistence.

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 had a random conversation with my husband earlier this week about running hot water over a glass jar to loosen the lid. I thought it was mainly because the metal lid expanded, but he said it was more because the air at the top of the jar expanded.

So, tonight when I was opening spaghetti sauce for dinner, I tried running hot water over most of the jar, rather than just the lid as I had done in the past. And yes, he was right; it definitely was easier to get off. (Update in 2024: Now I’m using a jar-opening tool, which makes it even quicker.)

I’ll keep in mind, from now on, that the world is probably full of easier ways of doing things—but first, one must expect to be able to find them.

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 got his car back today, after several days in the shop. The torque converter needed replacing, which shouldn’t have been too hard except that in today’s vehicles, everything is so crammed together that many parts had to be taken out just to reach it. So, a large bill for many hours of labor, but I was still smiling a little, just because he was so happy to be “rehorsed,” as he put 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.”

I just put in a Domino’s pizza delivery order online, and, as of the time I typed this sentence, the tracker page said it had been in the oven for 4 minutes. Of course, the pizza will still taste the same when it gets here, regardless of whether I know precisely what time it was baked. Still, it’s kind of nice to live in a world where we have more information about what’s going on around us. When I take a moment to notice and appreciate such little things, as trivial as they may be, I find myself becoming more aware of how many reasons there are to be thankful.

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.”

Yesterday afternoon my husband dropped his phone and broke the screen, which left me thinking about how disruptive it feels to be temporarily deprived of our modern gadgets. Even the tiniest blips in our daily routine can leave us feeling a bit out of sorts; for example, my Keurig coffeemaker didn’t come on when I pressed the button this morning, and I had to unplug it for a moment so that it would reboot.

When modern devices are working properly, they are easier and more useful than their old-fashioned equivalents. The simpler things of the past weren’t as fragile and prone to glitches, though, so people didn’t feel that they were wasting time with unexpected problems. In fact, getting things done took more time back then, but it felt okay because our expectations weren’t being frustrated in so many small ways.

Sometimes we just need to step back, take a breath, put things in perspective, and start noticing those ordinary blessings that are right in front of us. Life really is easier than we often think it is, and we don’t need to get every little annoyance perfectly sorted before we can feel happy.

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’m writing this post in advance and scheduling it for Thursday morning because of travel plans. With a high number of entries in this weekend’s championship regatta in Indianapolis, at a location that doesn’t have much nearby parking, my husband, who tows the boat trailer for our rowing club, sensibly decided it would be best to take the trailer there on Monday to make sure of getting a good spot. The trailer had been mostly loaded on Sunday, except for two boats to be picked up Monday morning from another nearby club.

I rode along to help unload boats when we got there. I wasn’t expecting it to take very long because I thought we would just take off a few smaller boats and leave the others on the trailer, but some kind folks from the Indy club offered to help us to take them all off. We got the trailer completely unloaded and parked (far enough away that it was a good thing we wouldn’t have to carry anything more from it) and the boats secured against wind and storms. By then, it was later in the afternoon, and we still had to do a rowing machine workout when we got home, so it ended up being a rather long and tiring day. Soon after I went to bed, my husband literally fell asleep on the floor.

It’s all good, though—making the effort to do more, and being in the company of cheerful and inspiring people. That’s how we get stronger and more confident, a little at a time.

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.”

Last weekend my rowing club traveled to the Chicago Sprints. It was my first time rowing at the Lincoln Park Lagoon, which is famous, or perhaps infamous, for sprint racing on a very narrow course that only has space for buoys down the middle. (Sprint courses normally have buoys on both sides of the boats.) Rowers going up to the start line have to stay very close to the shore to avoid colliding with boats racing down the course.

Saturday’s races were mostly college rowers, and some of them weren’t doing the best job of not running into each other. I had one race on Saturday, a women’s lightweight double that had no other entries, so it was like a practice. That was good because I needed some practice on that scary course. I’ve been rowing for ten years, so I am not a newbie, but I felt as jittery as one.

I had calmed down enough by Sunday morning to row well in the women’s masters lightweight double, advancing to the afternoon final, which was a very close race. Our competitors were older and had seven seconds of handicap on us, and Deb and I weren’t sure if we had gotten far enough ahead of them. Afterward, we found that we had been just fast enough to win the gold medal. One of our competitors came over to our boat trailer and asked if she could row with us in our quad in Indianapolis—what a lovely compliment that was! We said yes. Nothing to be scared about, after all!

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.”