By What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?
~Charles Schulz
After a month away from work and more responsibility, I was hoping October would provide an opportunity for a slow re-entry back into “real life.” That plan lasted about a day before I was forced to dive back in with both feet. And, while my return didn’t go as planned, I’m still holding on to all of the goodness that was my sabbatical and our cross-country road trip (I promise a proper blog post on the trip will be coming someday).
I’m the type of person who can really let that one not-so-great thing that happens impact the rest of the day or even week and I’ve been striving to change that by focusing on being an observer of the waves instead of someone trying to ride (and control) them all. My return from sabbatical provided some excellent practice to watch the waves and, while there is still lots of room for improvement, I was able to react a little more thoughtfully and slowly and let get a bit more quickly. Practice makes progress, right?
Also included in getting back-to-normal was returning to my workout routine. We were pretty active on our trip and I also managed to fit in some yoga, strength (brought weights) and stretching along the way. However, getting back on the bike for the first time after 30 days away was rough but I expected that to be true. And, while I’ve seen improvement over the past month, I’m still not where I was when I left for our trip and I’m trying to let that be ok. All I can do is keep going and pushing myself to be better and I’ll get there — and remind myself of how far I’ve come since I started riding last year.
October also provided some fun highlights with us hosting our first visitors since moving here in early 2020, celebrating Ellie’s ninth birthday and receiving a shoutout from one of my favorite Peloton instructors during my 500th ride. On to November and a friendsgiving (yes, we actually have some friends in SF now — woohoo!), a Broadway show to kick off the holiday season and hopefully a Christmas tree by month-end.
October highlights
returned home from month-long road trip
completed many routine health check-ups + flu shot
500th Peloton ride + shoutout from one of my favorite instructors(!)
other Peloton milestones: 250th stretch + surpassed 10,000 annual Peloton minutes + 150th strength
rode 162.5 miles
108 workouts + 25+ hrs (cycling, yoga, strength, walks, stretching)
continued hardCORE On the Floor + many Peloton and Apple challenges completed
celebrated Ellie’s 9th birthday
adjusted to a new routine w/hubs returning to office
enjoyed a sunny Saturday sipping wine + beer in Russian River Valley
joined another wine club
participated in change management program + earned certification
hosted our first house guests since moving to SF
played tourist + finally road the trolley + took Flat Stanley along for the ride
devoured many episodes of Armchair Expert + highly recommend this one
edited + began sharing road trip photos
treated myself to a little jeans splurge
began 2022 vacation planning
happy hour with friends
read two books
gratitude some days
made it through our first California bomb cyclone
came up with many excuses for not completing YTT
continued daily + weekly + monthly habit tracking
tried a number of new recipes
wrote three blog posts
November intentions + what I’m looking forward to
focus on completing YTT
recommitment to daily meditation + gratitude
continue sharing photos from our road trip
progress on blog road trip post
revive bookclub
celebrate Thanksgiving with friends
kick off the holidays in a fun way
open tabs
holiday decluttering
looking for a confidence boost?
ideas for your next read
solving problems
befriending ourselves (podcast)
a different kind of advent calendar
feeling anxious? listen to this song
how to make your time matter
something new to try
feeling like you’re not good enough
job searching?
smelling old book
intentional social media use
the life of a bookseller
worth a listen (podcast)
trajectoryoflife.com 