Finding the Beauty in Life Whether I'm Walking Down the Hill or Back Up

On a recent sunny afternoon I headed out for a walk.  I decided that I would walk for one mile and then turn around reversing my steps to head back home.  Setting my fitness watch to measure my distance, I took off on the paved path.

It was a beautiful day.  As I walked I noticed the bright blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds

and the colorful butterflies dancing amongst the trees

and the peaceful song of the waterfalls.

How lucky was I to be outside in this stunning place enjoying this marvelous day???

Before I knew it, I had gone a mile.  I turned around to head back to home.  As I walked, my legs began to burn a little bit.  My breathing became a little more labored.  I realized that I was walking uphill.  Really?  I didn't recall the first part of my walk to be this much of a descent.  As my breathing increased and beads of sweat formed on my brow, I grew less enchanted with this walk.  How much farther?  Why had I come this way?  I should have turned left out the door instead of right.  

I was so relieved when I reached the top of the hill and the path flattened out.  Thank goodness that was over!

Later that afternoon when I was looking at the pictures I had taken on my walk it dawned on me that on my way back I had passed those same peaceful waterfalls, passed those same dancing butterflies and the same bright blue sky had been above me.  However, I was so focused on my burning thighs and heavy breathing and sweat that I missed them.  I was looking at the uphill path and failed to see the beauty that still surrounded me.

Life can be the same way.  When things are going good I think my family and friends are the best and the funniest people ever.  I appreciate my job and drive home in my cute little dented car with the windows down and my favorite song blasting on the radio.  When there is a bump in life everyone annoys me and I wish life was different.  I hate my job and my car and the song playing on the radio.  

But wait . . . .

My family and friends are the same amazing funny people.  I'm still driving the same little car going to the same job every morning.  None of that has changed.  What has changed is what I am focusing on.

The good news is that I can control that.

When I was on that walk, I could have stopped to listen to the waterfalls, watch the butterflies and look up at the sky on my way up the hill just as I had on the way down.

 

But I chose to keep my head down and focus on the uphill path.

Life is the same.  I can choose to focus all of my energy on the blip in my path or I can pick up my head and know that, even though the journey is hard at this moment, I am still surrounded by family and friends who love me.  I have a job that I enjoy, a car to drive and a roof over my head.  

Every aspect of my life is not going to be great all of the time, but there is always going to be greatness in my life.  I just need to pick up my head and see it.

These pictures were taken during a walk at Hidden Valley in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands.

A Fitness Themed Celebration

Unbelievably, it has been four years since my friends and I started working out together after work.  Four years!  As a thank you to our leader Coach Dana and our company Community LIFE for supporting our group we wanted to bring some treats into our morning meeting.  Since we're a health focused group, we wanted our snacks to have a fitness theme, but also be fun.  So often work celebrations consist of donuts or bagels and cream cheese.  While those are easy and don't take much time (depending on how long the drive-thru line is!), they are not the healthiest option.  Here's the menu we came up with:

Protein "Ball Slams"

Pineapple "Chair Dips"

"Bicep Curl" Krispies

"Goblet Squat" Granola with Yogurt

"G2O"-J

Coach Dana was very surprised and the food was a hit!  The Protein Balls and Pineapple Dip were the stars of the show.  Both were very simple to make - they, along with the rice cereal treats, didn't take much time nor were they expensive.  Here are the recipes from our celebration:

Protein "Ball Slams"

adapted from Chef Savvy's 5 Ingredient Peanut Butter Energy Bites

www.chefsavvy.com

1-1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup honey

Place all five ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.

Roll into 24 balls If they are difficult to roll, place the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and try again.  Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Protein Ball Slams

Pineapple "Chair Dips"

adapted from Belly Full's Pineapple Nilla Dip

www.bellyfull.net

8 whole Nilla wafer cookies

1 -8oz package cream cheese, softened

1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained and squeezed of its liquid

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a food processor or Ziploc bag and a rolling pin, blend/smash cookies until they are finely ground.

Place all ingredients (including the ground cookies) into a medium bowl.  Using a hand mixer, beat until well combined.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Serve with Nilla wafers, graham crackers, celery or the dipping agent of your choice!

Pineapple Chair Dips

"Bicep Curl" Krispies

1 - 9 oz box of Crispy Rice Cereal

2 - bags of mini marshmallows

1 stick of butter

Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over low heat.  Once butter is melted, add the 2 bags of marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.  

Once melted, remove from heat and add rice cereal.  Stir until coated.  Press into the greased 9X13 pan.  

Allow to cool.  Cut into bars and serve. 

Bicep Curl Krispies

We concluded our celebration at the end of the day with a fun workout, gifts for our Coach and of course - CAKE!  The delicious fresh fruit filled layer cake was from Oakmont Bakery (www.oakmontbakery.com).

I've learned over the past several years that "healthy" food is tasty, but it tastes even better and is more fun when you share it with friends!  

Happy Four Years Team Muscle!!

Coach Dana

Tank from www.toughcookieclothing.com

The Time a Deck of Cards Reminded Me that I'm Not a Quitter

My life has reached a time of transition.  My son is off to college.  My daughter is weeks away from getting her driver’s license and once that happens we won’t see her very much.  Most of my volunteer work and involvement with the school has come to an end.  We’ve spent over a decade barely making it paycheck to paycheck and the need for me to get a second job can no longer be ignored.  My emotions bounce between being excited for this new journey and wanting to stay in bed pulling the covers over my head.  Will I be able to handle it?  What is God doing?

If you have read my blog in the past you know that twice a week I work out with a group of friends from work – Team Muscle.  We are led by my friend Dana.  We still workout when she off, but put together our own workouts.

Last Thursday Dana was off and several people were unable to come leaving just two of us.  We decided to complete a Deck of Cards Workout which is where you assign an exercise to each suit.  As you draw each card you complete the number of repetitions of that exercise.  For our workout we chose

Spades – ball slams (14 pound ball) for me and overhead press for my friend

Hearts – overhead press for me (20 pound dumbbells) and ball slams for my friend

Diamonds – sit-ups

Clubs – squat jumps

To add a greater challenge, every time we drew a 2 or a 3 we did 5 burpees.

Side note: Remember that we are all at our own level of fitness and ability.  Some of you may be thinking, “14 pound ball?  That’s no big deal!  20 pound dumbbells?  I could lift those 100 times in my sleep!”  Others may be thinking, “20 pounds?  I can barely lift an 8 pound weight!”  No one judges here.  You are where you are and that level is great for you!  Keep it up!

We got our equipment, completed a warm-up and started to draw cards.  Within the first ten cards, we drew 6 Spades.  (Yes we had shuffled the deck!)  Sweat was pouring off of me as I hurled that ball to the ground.  The next ten were mostly Clubs.  I sprang into the air as high as I could.  We'd only done one set of burpees.  

We began to talk about how we had made this quite difficult for ourselves.  Should we make it easier?  Squats instead of squat jumps?  Lighter weights?  Only do burpees for the two’s?

No way!  Was it determination?  Competitiveness?  Stubbornness?  I think it was a combination of all three that drove us to not change a thing and to draw every card in the deck.  

When we were done I felt a great sense of accomplishment.  We did it!  We completed 99 ball slams, 99 overhead presses, 99 sit-ups, 99 squat jumps and 40 burpees!    (If I had done the math ahead of time, I totally would have done one extra of everything to get to an even 100.)  High Five!

In the big picture of life, was this a huge accomplishment?  No.  But it was a huge reminder to me that I am not a quitter.  I can accomplish anything that I set out to do.  

I left that workout tired and super sweaty, but I also left feeling a sense of pride and filled with joy.  I had a renewed energy to go out and conquer the hurdle that life has thrown in front of me.  Is working a second job going to be easy?  No.  Are there going to be times I want to quit?  I’m sure there will be.  Will I be able to handle the added stress and be successful?  Absolutely!  I love when God gives me reminders like this.