Discipline vs. Rest Days

When its -6 outside with a wind chill of -15, and its 4:30 am and your bed is cozy, its easy to blow off the gym. I am by nature a morning person and getting up and working out at that time every day does not bother me. It’s just the routine I've been in for about 8 years. I get up and get dressed before my brain and body realizes what’s happening.  Last night I slept well and in fact got almost 7 hours of it, but as my alarm went off, I struggled to find a reason to get to boot camp today. No person in their right mind goes out in this cold just to get in a workout. I got up, flipped the lights on, went into the bathroom and promptly decided I wasn't having any of this nonsense and crawled back in bed. I laid there having the debate in my mind "You’re up! Just go!"/"Going now when you least feel like it will be beneficial later!"/"You'll beat yourself up about it if you don't go!" versus the, "Oh my God its warm in this bed!"/"What sane person willingly leaves this comfortable place?"/”You've worked out tons this week, take it as a rest day!"

This was the day that I almost succumbed.

But I willed myself to get up and get ready. Coffee always seems to make things seem more doable and today was no exception. I opened the garage door and started my car so it could heat up before I got in. I grabbed my gym bag and was off.

I never regret working out, but today I slogged through much of the class and it didn’t seem to change my mood much for the better.

The chaos of the holidays always throws me. To add to it, I found out last night that an old friend/coworker/mentor had passed away. I am profoundly saddened by the sudden change to her health that she experienced but glad that I knew about it in enough time to send her a letter telling her how much she impacted my life. I know she read it, because a mutual friend shared with me that she showed it to a visitor recently.

Simply put,  Donna is the reason I always give people a second chance.  When Donna and I first started working together, I slaved long hours at the hospital while she skated by doing the minimum (or so that was my impression) with no repercussions.  She was larger than life, classy, direct, and had a wicked sense of humor. She was full of character and everyone loved her and I could not understand why, as she completely rubbed me the wrong way. I constantly felt I was left to clean up her messes at work. There were many days that I came home from the hospital and started my dinner conversations with my now-husband, "Do you know what Donna did today??!!”

To spare you the details of a long story, she turned out to be one of the funniest, most generous, and most caring people I ever encountered.  The day I left that job, she stopped me in the ER on my way out and we had a really long discussion about how I wear my heart on my sleeve and how difficult that makes things in a professional setting. To this day I think about her words of advice.

We still stayed in touch a decade later, mainly through our Christmas cards but every so often I would hear a story about her from mutual friends. Usually one that would make me roll with laughter.

I was initially down on myself for not being disciplined enough to give it my best effort this morning at the gym but I ended the day by chalking it up to being nice to myself and merely calling it an off-day. Using the time to reflect on my friend was by far a better use of my time.