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Tag Archives: Napa

Day 10 of “30 Days to Love Yourself” REDUCE STRESS

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Day 10: Identify your largest source of stress and analyze- what can you do to reduce it?

The Blurb: This is what I do when I’m feeling stressed. I make a list of the things that are causing me to worry and figure out the MOST stressful thing.

You need to be honest with yourself and identify if it’s something you can actually change. There’s no sense in worrying about something you don’t have any control over. Here are a few things to help you work through what’s stressing you out:

  • If the stress is from a relationship, are you trying to save something that has turned toxic?
  • Can  you change the timetable?
  • Can it be delegated?
  • Are you stressed because things is your life are out of balance?
  • Are there steps you can take that will put you on the path to accomplishing it? A little preparation can go a long way to mitigate stress. Even making a list of the action items can help.
  • Think of the worst possible outcome and figure out how to handle it. If you have a way to deal with the worst case scenario, your stress will drop because you’ll feel more prepared.
  • Are you putting more emphasis on it than the situation warrants? My wise grandpa aways says to ask yourself: “Will it matter in 500 years?” When the answer is usually NO,  it will help you realize that everything will be ok.
  • Do you feel stressed because you haven’t allotted enough Me Time?
  • Communicate with the people involved. Sometimes there’s a miscommunication and you may be worrying about something unnecessarily.
  • If there’s a way to make a stressful task more fun, try that! For example, if I have a huge list of errands, I make a coffee run on the way, and then break up the errands with one fun detour in the middle. That’s a trite example, but you get the idea.
  • Is it a question of having enough time? Can you rearrange your priorities?
  • Is it something you’ve been putting off? Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and DO IT.

Suggestions: Another tip my sister taught me years ago is to FIX THE LITTLE THINGS. You’ll be shocked at how much better fixing a little detail can make you feel. It’s eliminating the little drip, drip, drip eroding everything at the back of your mind. If there’s a small thing that’s driving you crazy every day, just take a few minutes to fix it. You may not normally give it attention, but if it lessens your overall stress in the day without much effort, get it done.

For example, my dog barks as if masked murderers are infiltrating our house whenever someone knocks at the door. This was driving everyone in our house crazy because it instantly makes the stress level skyrocket. His bark collar battery had died and I hadn’t been able to find a replacement. A little thing that was annoying several times a day. Finally I looked it up the battery info online and ordered it on amazon. Once I fixed the problem I couldn’t figure out why it took me so long in the first place. 

Keeping It Real: 

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Photo of the Day: (In direct violation of the cutting sugar day) Inspired by the great Elizabeth Taylor:

“Pour yourself a drink. Put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.”

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(Obviously, I don’t recommend having wine as an ongoing way to handle stress. :) That’s my disclaimer. The fabulous wine I’m enjoying tonight was from my Napa Trip!)

Hope you are all feeling the love after making it through 1/3 of the project! I designed the project especially to have you feeling your best leading up to Valentines Day. There’s one focus item per day until then. It’s not to late to join in! The you can find the  PREVIOUS POSTS HERE and see below for the diagram outlining each day’s focus.

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You survived to the weekend! Make sure to get in a little time for yourself! I promise you’ll feel better for it!

Lots of love,

Brooke

Day 5 of the “30 Days to Love Yourself Project”

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Day 5: Identify a feasible workout routine. Commit. 

The Blurb: Just in case you didn’t jump on the bandwagon with other New Year’s resolution-ers, today is the day. Don’t worry, you don’t have to join a gym or work out every single day to be successful. Take a few minutes to figure out something that is feasible with your work and home life. That being said, give it your best shot! And remember, anything active can be counted as working out.

Suggestions: Run. Pilates. Cross-fit. Yoga. Weight Training. Walk. Classes at your gym. Cardio. DVD workouts. Zumba.

Keeping it Real: Working out is one of those things it feels like will be impossible to shove into your day somewhere. But it’s also one of those things that pays generous dividends when you make it a priority. In case you aren’t sure how this works, let me break it down for you.

Working out…

Is good for your heart. Promotes weight-loss. Prevents osteoporosis. Lowers bloodpressure. Is an excellent de-stressor. Prevents colds. Reduces severity of asthma. Promotes healthy pregnancies. Reduces diabetic complications. Plays a role in cancer prevention. Has anti-aging effects. Promotes brain health. Improves sex life. Improves sleep patterns. Helps prevent strokes. Good for mental health. Improves oxygen and nutrient supply. Improves muscle strength and joint function. Helps to manage arthritis (You can read an article detailing these further here).

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I’ve done workouts at gyms, my house and outside. Right now I’ve found the most success doing it from home because then I don’t have to worry about travel time and getting a sitter. I have several favorite’s to help me stay motivated and to change it up that I thought I’d share with you:

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P90X Website – Super intense 90 workout program based on muscle confusion. One of the toughest and most rewarding programs I’ve done.

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Lara Hudson 10 Minute Solutions- Pilates – I’ve done these older ones for year which you can find on amazon or here’s her website for her new stuff called The Murcury Method. I love her Pilates DVDs because she explains everything so well and they are all broken down into 10 minute focused segments so you can pick what you want based on how much time you have to devote that day. These are some of my favs!

photo-1(Chalene Johnson does these tough and awesome workouts that are broken down by time and intensity. I love these! Plus I just love her and her excitement! Here’s the website.)

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Slim in 6 Website – This is a great workout that touches on a little of everything. The idea is to do it for 6 weeks, but I have to change it up or I lose my momentum. It’s a great workout though.

My other favorite method of working out is walking/running with my little boy in a jogging stroller and listening to an audio-book! That’s partly how I read 50 books in 2013! I also participated in my first 5K last summer in Napa!

For today’s challenge, I’m committing to working out 3-4 times a week. I try to do Mon/Wed/Fri and then one day on the weekend. That’s my goal, but I leave some flexibility so that I don’t feel guilty enough to prevent my progress if I miss a day. Just figure out what works for you and be consistent!

Photo of the Day:

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What are your favorite ways to get in a good workout? I hope that this post has helped you get a motivated to commit to your health.

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See you tomorrow!

Brooke

 

Knee Surgery to GUNBUNFUNRUN 5K!

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This weekend I’m checking off TWO items on my Bucketlist! #11- Go wine tasting in Napa AND # 97 Participate in a Race! I’m doing the GUNBUNFUNRUN 5K which is part of the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon in California. The sign-up was last November and sold out within hours. This race is extra fun because when you reach the finish line… they HAND YOU WINE! How great is that?

When I signed up for this race last November, I had just undergone double knee surgery and had no idea how plausible it would be for me to participate. I had double lateral and bi-lateral release surgery right before Halloween. Genetically, my kneecaps were tilted at a slight angle, creating bone-on-bone grinding so they ached all the time. It was to the point that most active things weren’t even an option — even just going on a walk around my neighborhood made them hurt. I had done all the physical therapy, arches in my shoes etc to avoid surgery, but finally after ten years of pain I’d had enough! I wanted to be able to be active! I’m young and healthy and enjoy being physically active. So, I decided to bite the bullet.

Dr. Anderew Cooper  performed my surgery (He was an excellent surgeon and I highly recommend him and his team) and was fascinated to find that both of my knees had the same identical problem. Even after the bilateral release (where they cut through the tight retinaculum so the kneecap pops back up into place) he ended up suturing my kneecaps in place to keep them from moving during the healing process. Here’s me four days after surgery…

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The healing process is supposed to be 4-6 months and it’s pretty intense. But they take you off crutches pretty quickly, within a few days, so I think that’s what made me think I would defy the odds and be back to my daily routine pretty fast. Also, did I mention that my son had just turned one?

The recovery was MUCH harder than I thought it would be. I have to give my husband HUGE kudos here because he literally saved me. I do not know how I would have made it that first month without him. He basically took everything over. And I mean everything. I am insanely grateful to him for not only taking care of the kids and and working at the same time, but also taking care of me and shuttling me to and from physical therapy. Plus I couldn’t drive for a while so he had to take me everywhere, and I’m the kind of girl who goes a little stir crazy after one day of not leaving my house. I cannot overstate how much he did and how thankful I am for all of his efforts.

Here’s a glimpse into a few of those days the first couple months:

IMG_1434This is the BEST part of physical therapy. Cold water is pumped into these compression wraps and they get really tight and since the water is so cold, it numbs your knees. Underneath these are little pads that generate small electrical pulses. It sounds like this would be torture, but it felt amazing, especially after a hard physical therapy session. Let me tell you, I will never again take walking for granted!

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 Ice- or rather, PEAS! They are your best friend during recovery! We also moved three months after I had surgery. I know. I’m freaking crazy. You can see we were packing in that picture.

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This is kind of funny. Here’s proof that I voted. With sexy compression socks and all. I was still on crutches for that escapade.

IMG_2292This is actually the BEST way to ice. I’m totally a pro, so here’s what you do-  Get FOUR bags of peas, a few paper towels, an ace bandage and a bunch of pillows. Arrange pillows so you can place your legs on them in an elevated manner. Wrap the paper towel around your knee, so the peas aren’t directly on your skin. Then place one bag of peas on the front of your knee and one on the back. Using the ace bandage, secure peas into place. Wrap TIGHT so it creates good compression. Elevate knees on pillows for 15-20 minutes. I had 8 bags of peas to rotate so I always had ice cold bags ready. Eventually, you can do this whole process by yourself.

IMG_1775This is what the scars looked like after a few months. Thankfully they are much lighter now. Swelling is the biggest problem with this surgery and its a really fine line between how hard you can work your muscles without causing them to swell more.

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Keeping your legs elevated helps. So does coffee and snuggles with your doxie.

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Starbucks also helps.

SO. I’m doing the 5K this weekend and I’m thankful I can walk again! They say you never really appreciate something until you don’t have it anymore, and so many things are connected to being able to bend and put pressure on your knees! I’m so glad I can walk again! I’m excited to be working toward the level of physical activity that I want in my life.

***I want to mention I’m going do my usual blog just once a week for now. I want to make sure I’m allocating enough time for writing and editing my books! I will keep posting my reviews of books I read whenever I finish them and this will also free up some time for me to do posts on writing that I feature on my Tips for Writers page.

I hope everyone had a fabulous week! By next Tuesday I’ll have crossed off two items on my Bucket List! YAY! Here’s to recovering from surgery and wine in Napa with amazing friends!!

Brooke

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