Simply Ordinary
This past month has been simply ordinary. All month long I was feeling very on edge for no apparent reason, and not content where I am in life. Nothing particularly terrible happen, but my mood was more negative than usual, and I can tell you the most significant factor why: social media.
Social media paint the work in only highlights. The pictures posted are creative and colorful, and the captions are thought-provoking and captivating. They post often and always have new, fantastic spots where they’ve shot pictures. These posts are about exotic travels or monumental achievements in their life, and there is nothing wrong with that because I have posted those posts. Of course, sometimes my ordinary life matches the Instagram highlight real with cool posts like when we went snorkeling in Hawaii, and I'm not ungrateful for other moments. Those moments are incredibly, and I will treasure those experiences forever; however, those experiences are unique, rare moments, and do not accurately reflect my day to day life. When I only consume the highlight reels, I can find myself becoming incredibly unhappy and unappreciative with my life. Not to mention, I do not have a photo shoot everywhere I go whether it’s the coffee shop, walking my dogs or skiing. I am actually very uncomfortable being in front of the camera and always think I look awkward. I enjoy capturing moments with family and friends and doing a photo shoot with Jake once a year, so we have normal photos of him not making goofy photos to hang up, however, stopping to take pictures of just myself is not something I enjoy doing (or am good at for that matter). I have thoughts I would love to share and messages that I think people need to discuss more, but I don’t have the creative capacity to draw people in with photos.
I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my fiancé and our two dogs, in a state that is covered in snow for (at least) seven months out of the year. I have a very routine schedule where I go from home to class to the gym to home to yoga with multiple dog walks, episodes of Brooklyn 99 and podcasts sprinkled in between. My life is incredibly normal as am I.
I usually try to maintain a positive outlook on life, but daily positivity also takes practice. It wasn’t until quite a bit of driving over Spring Break that I had time to reflect on the past month. Upon reflection, I realized I hadn’t been taking into consideration all the small, yet monumental wins that happened. Yes, the past 30 or so days was the most normal month ever but after reflecting I realized how many positive things happened and that my simply ordinary month actually had very extraordinary moments.
I had coffee on three separate days with incredible women that I look to as my mentors. I treasure the conversations I have with others whether it’s over coffee or Indian food. These conversations are so meaningful as they illuminate new ideas and each person brings valuable, insightful into their lives and the world around them. Good friends also do an incredible job of reminding you of the small successes that you might just brush off.
Before one of these coffee dates, someone I didn’t know, came up to me and told me “I just wanted to let you know that you are so beautiful.” I was so shocked, I was wearing day old makeup with a comfy out, so it took a few seconds for me to say, “thank you.” It was a lovely reminder that just because you don’t feel confident in yourself, there’s someone out there looking at you think that you look terrific.
Two significant things happened in the past month relating to working out. I attended the Brookings CrossFit, and I did pull-ups. These may not seem like a big deal or a win, but to me, it was a monumental moment for me. I haven’t done any competitive exercise in a year, almost to the day. In October of 2017 when I walked away from the track team, I started going to 9Rounds. I enjoyed the high-intensity boxing workout because it is a challenging workout and I was very competitive while I was working out there. However, around February of 2018, I felt so worn down. It was then that I was reminded that just because I wasn’t running track, didn’t mean my overall exhaustion for competition had disappeared. At the end of February in 2018, I stopped going to 9Rounds and focused mainly on yoga and lifting, two activities that involved very little competition. I have mixed up my lifting routine over the past year, but I have not involved pull-ups.
A year ago, I stop participating in highly competitive athletic activities because I was mental so drained of any competitive drive. As the year went on and I started to feel rejuvenated, I still choose not to participate in competitive activities (or do pull-ups), however, now it was for a different reason: fear. Fear that I wouldn’t be as strong or fast as I used to be. Fear that I wouldn’t be able to do something that used to come naturally like pull-ups. Fear that I would do more negative harm to my mental health. Two weeks ago, a friend from yoga asked me if I would go to CrossFit with them and even though, I was hesitant and very nervous, I decided I would because it was time for me to embrace my fears. After an hour, I realized I had nothing to be worried about. Even though, I cannot run a mile in the time that I used to or maintain a 7:00 minute mile pace for ten miles or squat as much weight as I once did, my muscles remember the motions, being competitive felt energizing and I am stronger than I realized I was (and I can still do pull-ups yippee!).
Social interactions and working out are incredibly important to me and provide me with energy but so does a clean house. Two weekends ago, Jake and I rearranged the apartment and hung up photos that we have meant to hang up since we moved into our apartment a year ago. I purchased cleaning supplies from Grove and deep cleaned everything. While we were cleaning and rearranging, we watched a Harry Potter marathon on television which I definitely consider being another win for the month as HP is my favorite movie series of all time. I don’t think our apartment has been this clean and organized since we moved in. Of course, it was destroyed days later when we brought home another furry family member, but still, I considered our day of cleaning to be a win.
What a perfect segue into my next win: we adopted a puppy! We were contacted at the beginning of the year by the adoption organization where we adopted Scout from regarding a puppy that they thought would be a perfect fit for Scout to help with his social anxiety. Unfortunately, two weeks ago, just one day before we were going to adopt him, the puppy died of distemper. By this time, we were really set on adopting a puppy, so we continued to look for another fur ball baby. We reached out to an adoption agency in South Dakota and within a week and a half were approved for adoption so on February 27th we adopted our little fur baby girl and named her Nova. She is quite a handful from stealing all Scout food and pooping six times that day (twice inside) to getting into the garbage and being able to escape every caged area we put her in. However, we have already seen incredible improvement in Scout’s anxiety levels around people and overall playfulness. She has been a fantastic addition to our family.
Whether it’s buying buns from the Farmers’ Market to shopping on Etsy, I love to support local and small businesses. After one of my coffee dates, I stopped by my favorite home décor store called Found by Funky Junk. All of the items they sell are vintage, antique, eclectic, repurposed, handmade gift and home decor items. All of the décors in our apartment was designed and purchased at Found. On my most recent visit, I bought more green plants to add to our apartment (fake green plants so I don’t kill them) to bring more color to our home during this long, snowy winter. I absolutely love all the decoration I have purchased from them, and the customer service is unmatched.
Another small business-related win from the past month is that I was asked to partner with a small business owner on Etsy named Ashley Krieg, owner of Let It Be Yours Company. I have purchased a variety of items from her over the past year that is all so adorable, personalized and beautifully created. From a funny Mother-In-Law mug to a “Will you be our officiant?” mug to a “Does this ring make me look engaged” mug, I have not been disappointed with her work. All of the mugs I purchased had personalized designs on them which made them more thoughtful and personal gifts. Even though, I have kept my purchases in the “mug realm,” she also designs shot glasses, can coolers, sunglasses, tumblers, and her newest items, water bottles! Ashley is incredibly creative and always up to challenge to create any design you can think up, and she is doing a fantastic job running a successful small business and being a mom. I look forward to our partnership and introducing her more to you in the future the longer we work together.
The most obvious, “Instagram highlight,” thing this month happened this week. We traveled to Lutsen, Minnesota to downhill ski over Spring Break. As much as I love downhill skiing, that wasn’t my favorite part. My favorite part was everything else from spending time with my sister and my cousin, to getting to know their boyfriends, to catching up with Jake’s roommate from college, to taking our first trip with the dogs, to seeing the stars and being in nature. Downhill skiing and walking the dogs presented an opportunity to be outside, take in nature and get fresh air (even if it’s 3 degrees and snowing). My breath was taken away every night when we walked the dogs because there were so many stars in the sky. Looking up at the infinite number of stars reminds me how small we really are. This trip was a much-needed break from being on social media, school and our normal lives and I got to spend time with some of my favorite people.
Heartwarming conversations over coffee, pull-ups, supporting local businesses, downhill skiing, cleaning up puppy poop, and so much more when added together to become quite an exciting month filled with moments that should be celebrated. When I took time to shift my mindset on the month, my ordinary, dull month seems not as mundane as I thought. I wrote this not to brag about the events of the past month but as a reminder about how important it is to appreciate and celebrate the small wins because it can bring a more positive outlook on your current circumstances. I wrote this as a reminder that among the routine, normal moments of life are extraordinary moments. I wrote this as a reminder that it is entirely okay to just be normal. You don’t have to be traveling or achieving huge life goals to celebrate all the little wins.
My life is simply ordinary, but every morning, I wake up and remind myself that my ordinary life is truly extraordinary and yours is too.
