The Only Way to Really Live is to Get Sweaty

My youngest sister's boys (ages 11 and 9) attended a water sports camp this summer.  They live in San Diego.  They could choose water-skiing, wake boarding, surfing, kayaking, etc. They could do one activity in the morning, one in the afternoon.  It sounds AWESOME!  She said she has never seen them so completely wiped out at the end of the day as they have after this camp!  I say, AWESOME!  City Kids today don't have the opportunity to get wiped out like that physically as much as kids who grew up working on a farm.  Of course, though we had an acre of land when I was a teen, I was definitely a city girl.  Meaning, I didn't have to go out and bale hay or take care of horses or milk cows.  I didn't have to take care of a garden (usually) or even mow the lawn.

I was waaaay too lazy.  My parents tried.  Dad's philosophy was, boys do the outside work (yard, animals, cars), girls do the inside work (cooking, cleaning).  We had a garden very sporadically.  As a teenager I admit I was very adverse to going outside.  I might get dirty!  The dirt and wind bothered my contacts!  I would get sweaty, and I just showered so I did NOT want to get sweaty!

But I learned in college that the only way to really live is to get sweaty.  I would get sweaty in dance class... and it felt good!  I would get a little sweaty just rushing across campus from class to class.  I finally realized it's ok to get sweaty.  It's ok to not look perfect all the time.  You could actually accomplish something if you didn't worry constantly about how you looked.  Being perfectly clean and perfectly coiffed is over-rated.

Why Not?

I love the movie, We Bought a Zoo, staring Matt Damon.  I love what his character, Benjamin Mee says, "You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage.  Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery.  And I promise you, something great will come of it."  I can attest that this is true.

I remember water-skiing the very first time at about age 10.  Our family friend, Ernie Stark, was pulling me in his little boat, and he was so kind and patient, and my Dad was kind and patient.  I was petrified, but I kept saying to myself, "I can do it! I can do it!"  I literally said this to myself out loud!  I was scared of the deep water and the fish and other unseen things in the depths.  Creeeepy!  But I used twenty seconds of insane courage, and got up on my first try (two skis)!

I'm grateful my parents had us try many things growing up.  You just don't know what you can do til you try.  Our oldest son didn't know he could be a sprinter til he found (less than) twenty seconds of insane courage his senior year and did it.  And he beat his athletic cousin!  Proud Parent moment.  Our daughter didn't know she was brave enough to jump off a cliff into the water at Havasupai til she found twenty seconds of insane courage and did it.  Of course, the most important thing we get from these experiences is that we realize....I can do hard things.  I can face scary things.  I am stronger than I think.  Suddenly, our world expands and we see more possibilities in view..  Because, why not?

Just Look Up

Sometimes you take the garbage can out to the curb and suddenly...you see a beautiful sunset blossoming.  You run in to the house, grab your phone, and start taking pictures.  Then you realize it might look even cooler if you cross the street.  Five minutes later you get a stunning picture of amazing cloud formations in an amazing summer evening sunset.

Heavenly Father works like that, doesn't He? You're focused on fixing the broken sprinkler, thinking about the argument with your husband or dwelling on the fat you've gained in your tummy, when suddenly you look up... and a miracle has happened:  a beautiful sunset, your spouse apologizes, you realize your body still moves pretty well.  All it takes is looking up.

Sisters

No one can make me laugh like my sisters.  It's gotta be because of shared experiences like: singing Bill Grogan's Goat in the back of the Suburban on summer road trips to Arizona, hauling wet carpet out of the basement after the sprinklers flooded the basement, and water skiing trips to Rocky Point Beach. But also because of our common love of chocolate, our common dislike (hate is such an ugly word) of our "Simmons" thighs (read- muscular thighs), and singing Do-Da-Do together a few too many times.  But I laugh more when I'm around my sisters than with anyone else.

Because we share common interests (our families, music and staying in shape) and struggles (we love sweets too much, and our thighs love them too.) we can laugh and cry together about them.  But sometimes jealousy and pride rear their ugly heads and I wonder why one sister is blessed with such a positive personality and so much MONEY!  Or another sister can eat candy bars every day and it doesn't show on her figure.    

Truth be told, I have not gotten along with Sister 2 EVER in my life - til about 1-2 years ago.  We are such opposite personalities, that we just never seemed to click.  Everything was fun and games to her, everything was serious to me.  Reading was dumb to her, reading was life to me!  Sister 3 was the mediator between us.  She could bring us together.  It's not that we literally fought, but boy we bugged the heck out of each other just being who we were, what we laughed at, what was important to us, etc.  I could tell by the snide little comments she would sometimes make (that perhaps she thought I didn't hear).  And we were grown adults with our own children!!

But in the last few years, Sister #2 and I have finally found a commonality that has drawn us closer: our trials.  We needed to connect with someone who knew us well, yet our mediator was too busy with her own life.  So we started calling each other.   Struggles I have been through in my life helped prepare me to reach out to her in her struggles.  It's been good for both of us.  We're still polar opposites, but life has softened the edges a bit.  So the laughing continues!

Living In Between

In this age of facebook, instagram, twitter etc. we see the big and small moments of our friends.  We see their seemingly glamorous lives.   But I am here to proclaim that 80% of life is the In Between Stuff.  Not the awesome trip to London (which I did post pictures of), not my daughter's high school graduation or my son's college graduation.  80% of life is actually the mundane daily tasks of living.  Getting up to go for a walk in the morning.  Doing laundry.  Paying bills.  Running errands so that we have food and clothing.  Fixing the broken sprinkler, putting together the new bookcase, weeding the garden.  And yes, some people post about these mundane moments also.  But often we just see those Ultra Special activities in life, and it makes us think our lives are boring because we didn't go to London/Hawaii/Disneyland.  We're still here doing laundry, paying bills, going for a walk.  But that's ok.    It's like the pauses in a sentence or a song.  We need the pauses, the silence, to catch our breath, to ponder on what went before.  And to appreciate even more the Big Activities. Performing those daily mundane tasks with purpose and gratitude makes life deeper, more meaningful. It turns your life into a work of art.

Ode to Healthy Living

This is not my Diet Plan.  This is not my Exercise Plan.  This is not my Weight Loss Plan.  This is my Ode to Healthy Living.

So.. I feel lucky that I was born to a family with healthy living habits.  Regular meals, no extremes of eating, regular movement, a love of getting outdoors, and no pressure to look a certain way.  But in college I did feel a bit of pressure.  Then later I let the pressure of the world get in my head too much.

Here's what I've learned about Healthy Living these past 20ish years:

1) Use moderation and consistency.  Today's media glamorizes the opposite of these - excess and getting what you want when you want it.

2) Keeping your weight down is 80% diet, 20% movement.   That being said, we are made to move our bodies, not sit for eight hours a day!  Walk, squat, push, pull, throughout the day.  And by diet we mean real food, not packaged, processed stuff.  How much real food do you eat?

3) Live your life!  I don't believe God put us on earth to obsess over how many calories we ate today or if we got in 30 minutes of cardio or 30 minutes of strength training.  What is your higher purpose?  Be engaged in your life and search for that higher purpose.

4) Get outside.  Too many of us in 'civilized' nations have 'Nature Deficit'.  We are too disconnected from nature.  Science has shown the healing effects of nature.  So get outside and walk.  Plant a garden.  Hike, bike, notice the plants and animals and birds in your area.  Become more connected to the nature in your corner of the earth.

5) See the people around you.  Research shows that the people with meaningful connections to other people in their life are the happiest and heal the best from sickness.  Reaching outside of ourselves to serve others helps us to grow and keeps us healthier.

So these are my Top 5 Things I've Learned about Healthy Living.  Give them a try.

On Backpacking 14 Miles and Finding Joy, August 2014

I started back to work this week.  District meetings, faculty meetings, getting my new PE schedules, visiting each school to check in with Principals and teachers and check on my PE closets.  And of course, lesson prep.  I truly like being a teacher and working with kids.  And I like having summers off, and I like going back to school in the fall (or end of August actually).  I like getting back in to a routine during fall and winter.  Ready to hunker down for the long haul, dealing with trials as they come, and taking breaks along the way as needed.

Kind of like the backpacking trip we took last weekend.

Our Leader-in-Adventure, Lynn  (former River Guide with my husband), called us a couple of weeks ago and asked if we'd like to go backpacking to the Grandaddy Lakes area in the Uintah Mountains of Utah.  We said yes.  We rarely say no to Lynn.

So we planned and packed and bought a new 3-person backpacking tent (think light - 6 lbs.!), dehydrated meals and backpacking towels.  I decided it was finally time to buy fancy easy-to-dry backpacking/camping/hiking pants, and did.

Drove to Hanna, Ut looking for the road to Hades Campground (Hades!  Uh oh, is that a sign?!) and the trailhead to the Grandaddy Lakes.  Couldn't find it.  Asked for directions.  They didn't help.  Asked again and finally found it.  Drove on dirt road about 6 miles, parked, loaded on our 30 lb. backpacks, and started hiking.

It was a beautiful afternoon (Fri., Aug. 15), 75 degrees.  The trail was steep and rocky.  Lots of rocks and evergreen trees. The trail was steep.  I got tired.  Did I say the trail was steep?  But we plugged on, taking rest stops for water and snacks along the way.  Four miles in.  I'd say about three miles were uphill to the ridge of the mountain, then one mile downhill in to the basin where we could see the Grandaddy Lake, a beautiful, serene mountain lake.

Set up camp before dark, made dinner, sat around the campfire talking and laughing.  But I was pretty wiped out.  I guess I'm not as young as I used to be.  So I headed to bed before the others.

Saturday we hiked another six miles (SIX MILES!) in a loop from our camp around to other lakes and back.  Stopped at Rainbow Lake for lunch and photoshots as we jumped in to the cool mountain water.

I was tired again when we returned to camp.  Took a nap before dinner. Enjoyed visiting and telling stories around the campfire that evening.

Camping like this helps you appreciate bathrooms with toilet paper and chairs to sit on when eating.  But these are trials that can be dealt with.  Hiking like this means we can take breaks as needed or wanted.  Because we're tired or hungry, or because there is a beautiful view of a lake or tree or bird.

I need those breaks during school also.  And I need to remember to see the beauty in my students and co-workers, because, as the saying goes,"the joy is in the journey, not in the destination"!  It wasn't just the beauty of our camp site or the lakes, it was the whole experience of hiking, being tired, dealing with no toilets, and sharing stories with friends.   The whole experience of teaching PE and teaching anger management and teaching responsibility for one's own actions.  Laughing with the kids and crying with co-workers.  The Joy is in being able to see the Whole Experience, and to find Joy in it.  Here's to finding the Joy in another backpacking trip, and another year of school!