Friday, December 20, 2013

Naughty or Nice?

The Holidays are here, and that means it is a turbulent time of year with the constant struggle b/n Naughty & Nice. Work has been a year-end whirlwind, and next person that says, "this is our slow season" will get punched in the throat. There has been nothing slow about the efforts to wrap up such a historic year for our company. It's like we've hit the bonus lightening round right at the end of the game. With candy cane-induced sanity - I pushed through, but it wasn't without sacrifice. Getting to the gym was a daily challenge - and one I failed miserably. When I stopped giving myself an hour a day to get to the gym - that's when things got a bit Naughty for me.

For a person like me - that doesn't comprehend moderation - once exercise slips - so does nutrition. Lunches were being ordered in during the workday. Working late meant not making it to class and getting to the grocery store was less desirable than being dipped in hot oil. That meant dinners at night start getting ordered in too. The domino effect multiplies and spreads to all aspects of your life. You eat crap, so you feel like crap. You feel like crap so you have a drink (or 5) and then you feel crappier. You feel crappier and need "grease" so you hit McD's on the way to work. The only way to reverse the downspiral is to exercise. This naughty behavior is so easily curable, and I'm so grateful that I drug myself back into CrossFit this week. I needed the mental break. I really needed the physical excursion. C3 happily obliged on both counts. I didn't celebrate any PRs this week - other than reversing the downspiral. Staying off the Naughty list would make the Nice side of the Holiday's more enjoyable.

The Nice side is all the time with family to celebrate. Those of us blessed to have little ones in our lives - we get to believe in the Spirit of Christmas all over again.The Holidays are stressful and filled with logistic olympics. All of the money, the lists, the class parties, the scheduling, the shopping, the inability to avoid the general public - it turns most of us into cranky robots that would please only the Grinch. I hung out with a bunch of 6-7 year olds yesterday, and it was the absolute cure for my Grinch-itis. Seeing them so excited during their class party, and reading their letters to Santa just made my heart happy.

2014 is a year I'm looking forward to. I will turn 40 in just a few weeks. I'm not dreading this. I will greet my 40's way more healthy than I was when I met my 30's. I will introduce my 3 year old to snow skis next month. She's got the balance of her brother, the swagger of her late-grandfather and my stubbornness. This will be fun! I will once again raise money for Project Athena Foundation as I paddle, hike and run the from Key Largo to Key West. I will run a 10k this year! This is something I'm bummed I never accomplished in 2013. I will continue to hike as much as possible again, and my little ones are going to be with us for the adventure. I'm sure 2014 will present the same time constraint challenges, but I'm determined to keep my health a top priority. My house might get dirty and the laundry piles might reach the ceiling - but the White's won't be sitting still long enough to notice. My 2014 Nice List will be filled with accomplishments, and I will say good-bye to all the self-destructive habits that kept me on the Naughty list in 2013.