The Adventure of Life

Yesterday was the memorial for a friend that passed away on Monday.  He was someone well-known in the Asheville cycling community and his life was appropriately celebrated with a ride to a local brewery where everyone gathered to talk about memories.  His son, a good friend of mine, talked before the ride and reminded us that life is an adventure and we should enjoy it.

He is right.  I have not been enjoying my life enough recently.  I have been too stressed about work and trying to figure out my plans for the future.  I have been full of anxiety and having a hard time brushing off little disappointments like I usually can.

I still need to focus on my life and where I am headed with it but I need to worry less about the little things.  I need to embrace the good moments I have.  I need to keep in mind I have wonderful friends and the opportunities for adventure, big and small, are there and that sometimes I don’t even need to go out my front door for them to happen.  I need to remember that really I am lucky to be who I am with what I have.

I am going to try to look at my path in life as an adventure and roll with the punches more, even when they hurt.  It’s life and both the good and bad are what shapes a person and all adventures have those moments when you fear what will happen next.  I think so far I have turned out pretty well and I think things can only get better from here.

So celebrate the adventure of your life today.  I may not be out riding my bike  or hiking a mountain today but I am enjoying life and where it is taking me.  I had brunch with a bestie, shopped for used books, worked out at the gym and will be having beer shortly with some friends.  Today I’m celebrating the fact that my own personal adventure can happen all with a couple of miles from my house and best of all with friends who help make my life complete.  Sometimes adventures include quiet times of reflection and celebrations of gratitude.  Today that is what is happening in my adventure in life.

I am glad I can say I was a small part of my friend’s adventure.  Go live life.

 

Dear Friday,

I kind of like you.  You aren’t Saturday or Sunday but you still hold a spot in my heart.  So you deserve a tune for today because you are special like that.  Of course as the end of you grows closer the more I like you, so let’s speed through the morning and get to 5:30 as quick as possible and I will show you my love.  Shhhh….don’t tell those other weekend days.

Series of Ups and Downs

Life always is a series of ups and downs but has seemed more so recently.  I have had a fair amount of downs with job stress, the passing of a friend this week, trying to pay on the medical bills coming in from surgery, etc.  Life has also had some ups recently, I had a wonderful time skiing recently, my friends remind me on a continual basis just how awesome they are, I have everything in life I need plus more and plans for travel in the near future.  I’m working hard on trying to work through my stresses and not let it get me down.  It’s not easy but it’s worth it.  Life every now and then reminds me that it is mine, I’m in control and I can make it awesome.  Right now it just might take some time to get back to that mind frame but I am heading that direction.

So in my usual video posting I looked up “series of ups and downs” and appropriately found a mountain bike video.  Does anyone want to take me to the UK for vacation?

What? No Snow?

Well it’s Valentine’s Day.  A day I don’t particularly like since I have been single. Word of advice to all; never ever make this day your anniversary!  If you do it will sting a little more than normal when this day rolls around.  I blogged about it last year and if you want to read it here you go.

So this day sucks and to top it off we were supposed to get snow last night.  Did I wake up to see the white fluffy stuff covering the lawn or the car? NO!  No even a dusting! So I’m going to take out all my issues with this day on the fact that there is no snow.  That’s healthy right?

Oh well it’s another day.  WITH NO SNOW!  Where is winter this year?  Sigh

Oh yeah, here’s a video for you

 

FRIDAY!!!

I don’t know if it’s because it’s officially the weekend and I have some fun plans or because my boss complemented me at the end of my day for doing a great job in my “trial department boss” position or because my coworker said “you know I think things are going to start looking up” or because I had Gomez in the car cd player but I’m feeling a little less anxious tonight.

I have a night of comedy and a bestie ahead and biking and skiing in my weekend plans.  Life isn’t so bad after all.  All the rest will take some work, time and patience on my part to be better and I need to remember that and keep from getting uptight

Breathe Deep

Life has been a big whirlwind of stress recently.  One thing after another.  Work, money, dating, work, money.  It definitely has been taking a toll on me.  My anxiety has skyrocketed and my ability to keep my usual smile is getting hard.   I really miss the happy me.  I have an appointment with the doctor and some of these things will sort out sooner than later but right now I’m doing my best to remember to breathe deep.

 

 

A New Month

Well it’s 4 days into a new month.  Of course a change of the calendar didn’t relieve me of my anxieties and stress.   It still sucks not being greeted by a beautiful dog when I come home and today brought a few of her old things to Brother Wolf.  I walked in the door of the adoption center and they were quite busy and I did my best to drop off the things and go.  I got back into my car and cried.

Things will heal and life will get better.  I had a super fun Friday night that was relaxing and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  I so needed it.  What added to the night was that I was able to walk downtown from home.  I had not been able to do that since my surgery because my foot had been through enough during the work day.  This week though I was on my feet continually every day at work and also walked downtown on Friday night.  That in itself deserved a celebration!

So here’s to life on the up this month and doing more activities to keep me smiling.

This song seems appropriate since it just started pouring outside and they are the awesome band I saw on Friday.  Maybe the month will bring more nights of Asheville’s incredible musicians.

Emotional Wreck?

So I was starting to feel a little bit like an emotional wreck until I decided to see what videos I could find on “emotional wreck”.  Wow!  After looking at this one, then this one, a few more that I will spare you of, and then finally this last one I have to say really I must not be one.   I feel so much more normal now.  Thank you world for the ability for anyone to post a video.  I am a little emotional for very valid reasons but am relieved to figure out that I am not an “emotional wreck”.

On that note, I lied, I have one more.  A little more sane and it’s not even a real person.

January Can Suck It

Warning:  Keep in mind I am PMSing like hell while writing this.  If you are bothered by that statement you can suck it.

Well less than 2 days to go and this month is over.  February better make up for this month because as far as I’m concerned January can suck it!  Recovering from foot surgery, bills from foot surgery, work stress overload and losing the canine roommate.  Frickin’ stupid month this has been.

So February has to be better.  Right?

Frazzled and Bikedazzled

Ugh it has been one hell of a long week.  Lots of stuff going on at work, in my head and well now at home.  I was initially looking forward to spending today and tonight cheering on some friends at the Icycle Mountain Bike Race in Fontana Village and drinking an unhealthy large amount of beer but alas I am at home.  Worried.  My roommate’s dog, Gladys, is at the vet right now.  She has been acting a little ill and has stopped eating and drinking excess amounts of water.  Tests have been done to try to figure out what is wrong and so far nothing other than she has a lot of gas and an upset stomach and can’t figure out why yet.  So she has been administered an IV and hopefully will regain her appetite and strength soon and can come home to harass the household cats.  (Okay really the cats harass her more but she loves them so and they love her too).  Despite nothing showing up in the x-rays I hope it’s all because of something crazy she ate like she has been known to do.  She is a lover of all things food as I have blogged about before.

So because I have grown to love this dog and my roommate has become one of my best friends it is more important for me to be here so I can know what is happening rather than two hours away with sketchy cell service.  Good news is I did go for a short road ride and that was some much-needed therapy.  My body is a little exhausted from this week and my mind is too but a little bike ride did a smile on my face.

So I hope everyone at Icycle is drinking one for me and hope that there is an epic dance off: