MAKE TIME FOR REST

Get your butt to work now
to seize this luxury
by the end of the day.

Because you deserve it.

♥

Muchaluva,
Stace.

Images courtesy of feeferlump via Flickr

Note: During my run 12 weeks ago, I broke my iPod Nano … again (See weeks 13 through 16). I decided not to fix it or purchase the iTouch. Instead, I’ll wait till this September for the latest generation of Apple iPod to be released until I can run with music again and log my exact time, pace, and mileage.

RUNNING MIND

RUNNING BODY

Getting into sleep is not within your control: You don’t have power over it. The less you worry about snoozing yourself to sleep, the more likely you are going to the first stages of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Accept that some things in life, such as snoozing, are beyond your control. Once you do that, aim to get deeper into Non-REM sleep, in which you experience rapid physical healing (and completely lose control), thanks to the large outflow of growth hormone. Studies have repeatedly show that people who spend more time on the REM stage of sleep compared to the Non-REM part are associated with clinical depression.

Tip #1: SLEEP NAKED. Cool off under your massive blankets (and still feel sexy). This keeps your body functioning at a calmer, more restful state.

Tip #2: DRINK CAMOMILE. The warm cup not only boosts your immune system, but also relaxes your nervous system, which helps to ease you into deep slumber. (P.S. Mild as it is, the herbal infusion is touted for fighting inflammation too).

Tip #3: STAY FOCUSED. Stop making a mental to-do list for tomorrow. Quit numbering your concerns of yesterday. Focus on your breath, then just listen to your quiet inhales and exhales. It’ll take your mind off. (Better the slow and deep than the short but shallow).

Tip #4: LOOSEN UP. Women are more likely to suffer from tight hips and lower back pain, including myself. As a runner, this following FitSugar sequence helps me gain the mental and physical flexibility I need before jumping off to bed:

RUNNING SPIRIT

LET IT ALL IN – BUT GO ALL OUT.

Always be able to give an account of yourself. You are not here to merely survive; you are here, now, present, to thrive for a purpose that only you and God alone know.

Always be aware of the things you are responsible to care for, but make sure you develop a strategy for sustainable development and prevent all the hard work you’ve done in the past to fall in vain. Progression requires accountability, that’s why I made the Making Miles worksheet.

View my weekly mileage progress here and my all-time PB (personal best) record here.

Remind yourself everyday, every week, every month and every year how far you’ve come to where you are today:

Set high standards, but never forget how far you’ve come to be where you are today. This is not about my running – it’s about you and becoming your best self. Stay awesome

♥

Muchaluva,
Stace.

Images courtesies of visual.ly / listal / Pete Barrett 

- Image courtesy of Cutest Paw

that you can lean on to me.

Mostly because I’m really fluffy.
But it’s also because
everybody needs a buddy

♥

Muchaluva,
Stace.

TGIF! is my personal commitment to cultivate an attitude of gratitude this year.

THE WEEKLY TGIF! LIST IS WHERE I PRACTICE COUNTING MY BLESSINGS, NO MATTER HOW LITTLE OR BIG THEY ARE (LIKE THESE THINGS FROM LAST WEEK, OR THE COUNTLESS BLESSINGS NOT LISTED HERE). IN DOING SO, MY HOPE IS TO INSPIRE YOU TO DO THE SAME, BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT THERE IS ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS SOMETHING BE THANKFUL FOR :)

GLAD TO HAVE A TGIF! LIST TO LOOK FORWARD TO EVERY WEEK, AS I DON’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO COPE WITH THE DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE WHEN THEY CAN ONLY GET MORE AND MORE CHALLENGING, OTHER THAN MAKE IT A HABIT TO COUNT MY BLESSINGS.

♡ I have a personal chauffeur. Not many out there have that kind of luxury. My family and I have also decided not to waste my energy driving on the road to work every day. For the past 3 months, people have been wondering why I would rather drive by myself than get driven.

Aside from being a control freak, driving amidst Jakarta’s traffic never fails to remind me just how patient we all need to be in these changing times. Most of the time, we just need to slow down and take notice who are the ones really needing the luxuries we possess and give away those we carry around in excess. Only by slowing down can we realize for ourselves that all of us are mere human beings, and the crippled person outside your car window is no different from you after all.

As for my decision to let go and get driven, I was propelled when I received a message mid-week that basically said I, like everyone else, am no longer allowed to have the convenient parking spots like I always do. Thankfully, I will be saving my monthly parking fee from now on and have a chauffeur who drops me off and picks me up whenever I wish. This blessing teaches me to treasure how much physical and mental energy I will be saving from now on in order to produce better results while at work.

♡ I have just enough time to do God’s will. I think I’ve mentioned this a couple of times before, but it’s always wise to refrain yourself from trying to do it all. It’s an energy-draining habit to keep up being a people-pleaser, and let’s face it – it’s humanly impossible to do everything. The only way to get around achieving anything at all is to focus on doing one thing at a time instead of being the jack of all trades.

The greatest time management tool ever invented is the two middle letters in the alphabet: N-O. The term is positive because it allows me to simplify my schedule and stay focused at any given time. I believe God does not give me anything I can’t handle, much less anything that might exhaust me out to the point that it can lead to permanent damage on my health, a natural blessing He has given every one of us.

♡ I am acknowledged in the workplace. I must have done something right, haven’t I? Whatever it is, I am thankful to be recognized so, and becoming smarter at work (I’m already working very hard) shall be the least I can do to pay back that gratuity.
 
♡ My dream to have a dog. Or a puppy. Like this hiccuping fella. It’s gonna come true guys. That ‘one day’ is already scheduled on my calendar.

♡ Family hug: My mother is going to meet my eldest brother. I’m just happy that for the first time in at least 3 years, they’re finally going to meet. I’ve met him last year when he came to visit San Francisco, and God, he’s become so thin I knew my mother’s going to freak out.

Mom’s boarded on an Alaskan cruise right now, as well as a trip around Canada. Then she’ll be stopping by the States to visit him. Of course it’d be more awesome if my dad, my second brother, and I are there too with them. But I’m happy just knowing two of my family members are going to see each other.

My mother asked me whether I have something she can pass on to my big bro. Two words, bro, two words (and this message probably applies to everyone else’s lives too): Hold steadfast.

GLAD TO HAVE A TGIF! LIST TO LOOK FORWARD TO EVERY WEEK, AS I DON’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO COPE WITH THE DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE WHEN THEY CAN ONLY GET MORE AND MORE CHALLENGING, OTHER THAN MAKE IT A HABIT TO COUNT MY BLESSINGS.

Never stop counting your blessings, people; it’s the least you can do to appreciate life for what it’s meant for. Enjoy the weekend!

♥
Muchaluva,
Stace.

Here on The Classics, I curate timeless texts that continually inspire my writing and, at the same time, provide perspective to the meaning of life. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

When I was small, maybe seven or eight, I noticed some crinkled leather boots in my mother’s closet, some I knew I had never seen her wear. She told me they were for horseback riding, and showed me some funny-shaped pants. “They’re called jodhpurs,” she said, and spelled it for me. She said she’d ridden when she was in college. She had taken archery, too. She had planned to major in journalism so she could meet with world leaders, and she had interviewed the university president for the school newspaper. She had taken Spanish, and sometimes spoke phrases of it around the house: “You’re loco in la cabeza,” she would say to my father, and she had taught me to count from uno to diez. She also knew another language: shorthand. Her mother had made her take it because it was practical and my mother had use it when she worked as a secretary at the truck line. She wrote her Christmas list in shorthand – and anything else she didn’t want me or my father to read, like her diary. It was a little red leather book with gilt-edged pages, and I was most intrigued by its little gold lock. As I remember it, my mother showed it to me, and maybe even read some passages to me. Looking over her shoulder I could see that some parts were in shorthand. When I asked what they said she just laughed and turned the page.