sad

#MondayMotivation - Renewed.

It’s been a hard couple of weeks for me. This past week was probably the worst in years. Anxiety, depression, and anger filled my brain. I slept more during the day than I have through all the nights. I avoided anything I could and ate my weight in feelings. I don’t know why, all of the sudden, I was sad about everything. I started thinking about my Gramma, about my life, where I am, etc. I was getting sad to leave this place but sad I wasn’t already further east. It’s a wild ride of bullshit, I tell ya. “Everything in time” and “what’s right will happen” and all that happy horseshit floated around from people or the internet. It’s all fine and dandy, until you’re not wanting to get out of bed and those sayings are just bullshit.

Fast forward to this past weekend. I started to feel better. I managed to get out, go to the Farmer’s Market, meet up with new friends, and enjoy the day in many ways. My biggest turning point, and the one thing that took the most effort and convincing, was just to go for a simple walk in the woods. I hadn’t been doing much between working at my desk, eating, sleeping, or the occasional short walk with Chewy. My back was hurting, my body was sore, and every time I tried to work out or go for a longer walk/hike, I said fuck it and didn’t do the things I needed to do until Sunday.

Sunday’s walk in the woods was uplifting and awakened me on many levels. I smelled the forest, touched the plants, let the sun stream over me, and started to feel a physical and mental shift in my being. It’s wild to think about how much a little mile and a half loop through some trees affected me, but here we are. The walk in the woods invigorated me, and my day only went up from there.

I was inspired by my friend who also had to do something they didn’t want to do. We both did the thing, achieved our mini-goals and all was well.

Here’s to a good week ahead and staying on this upward swing.

#WayBackWednesday - An August Weekend

At the cottage with my grandparents was one of my favorite places to be.  We always went on boat rides in the evenings, during cocktail hour before dinner, and spent the days prior soaking up the sun or swimming after yard work.  I miss being so close to the cottage, I miss Phil, I miss their old dog Abbey.  Things have changed so much, but I will never forget the good times that are frozen in time with these photos from August of 2009.  Forever my favorite place, with some of my favorite people.

The back of our family's cottage - my grandparents lived out here from late spring til fall.

View of the cottage from the front, out on the water.

Coreopsis - my grandmother's favorite

Clematis crawling all over the garage

My "step" grandfather (he was part of my life 1991 til his death this year) and my grandmother, on our evening cocktail pontoon cruise

Abbey the dog, in some of her best years.  This dog was just the best - lovable, fun, friendly, and always up for a boat ride.

Crescent Island - out in front of our cottage.

Nothing caps off a day on the lake quite like a sunset over the bay.