The beginning of the school year has come and gone. So why am I still working so much? Honestly, I love what I do. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not bringing work home but I am thinking about it all the time. And I do mean, all the time! Thank goodness for my Twitter friend, Mari, and my teaching partner, Jesus, for reminding me to have balance. Jesus and I made a pact at the beginning of the year to keep our balance in check. We’re doing pretty good going home at a decent hour. And Mari gave a group of us a challenge to write a blog post about called #MyRelaxing5.
So here they are, in no particular order.
So here they are, in no particular order.
1. Geocaching - My current passion is geocaching. (Shout to Mari for writing a blog post about it.) I caught the geocaching bug in July and I have 182 caches to my name. I’ve found 7 travel bugs and have hid two caches of my own. It is seriously soooo much fun! Think Pokemon Go but with real items and logs to find and sign. Today we took a Boy Scouts group out geocaching in the desert. Talk about fun! Geocaching keeps my mind off work, gets me outside, and satisfies the competitive nature in me. If you’re interested, DM me and I’ll help you get started or check out the site geocaching.com.
2. Exercise - One of the best ways for me to decompress is to exercise. It’s always been part of my life. Currently, I love weight lifting, rowing, and running. Just this morning I was challenged to run 3 miles or 30 minutes each day for the month of December. The timing is perfect. I immediately said “yes”. The weather here in southern California this time of year is perfect for afternoon runs and walks. But I have to admit, I will often come home from a run with some really good ideas to implement in my classroom. The white space is perfect for ideas to come and go. I used to run with music. Now I track my runs with my Garmin and enjoy the white space.
3. Binge Watching Netflix and DVR Shows - This is my Friday night. I let my shows accumulate, I get into my comfy clothes and blanket, and snuggle in for the night. This probably sounds really boring to some but I love it!!! It’s probably the only time that I’m truly relaxed. One of our dogs is really old . . . 17 years. Her name is Lady. I call her my Old Lady now. I make sure to give her lots of lovin’ during Friday night binges.
4. Visit Friends - I have two best friends. One is my best friend from college, Elena. I love visiting her during holidays. When I visit her and her family, it’s just like being home. Her daughters called me Tia Loca. We have so much fun together! The best part of our visit is that their kitchen gets a thorough cleaning. Super weird, but I love cleaning kitchens . . . so relaxing. I will definitely be visiting them soon. My other friend is Joan. We started out as running buddies. Now we’re geocaching buddies. We’ve done dozens of 5Ks together and a couple of Vegas half marathons. We don’t run too fast, but we sure have fun. A geocaching adventure is definitely on our calendar.
5. Weekends with Family - Both of our children are in college in Orange County. We’ve taken to weekend trips with the kids. Sometimes we meet for the weekend in San Diego or Palm Springs. Other times we go see them. Of course, my daughter’s kitchen gets a good cleaning! We were at our son’s last weekend. This may be gross but I’m dying to clean his bathroom! Getting away to see our children makes me so happy and really is relaxing.
These are my #MyRelaxing5. I’m feeling a little guilty for not putting reading on my list. But, to be honest, I have a really hard time reading for pleasure during the school year. I always have an education related book that I’m working on. My recreational reading will have to wait until summer.
What are your relaxing 5? I challenge you to write them up and share them with us on Twitter. Even if you don’t write them up, the reflective process is well worth it.
#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤
2. Exercise - One of the best ways for me to decompress is to exercise. It’s always been part of my life. Currently, I love weight lifting, rowing, and running. Just this morning I was challenged to run 3 miles or 30 minutes each day for the month of December. The timing is perfect. I immediately said “yes”. The weather here in southern California this time of year is perfect for afternoon runs and walks. But I have to admit, I will often come home from a run with some really good ideas to implement in my classroom. The white space is perfect for ideas to come and go. I used to run with music. Now I track my runs with my Garmin and enjoy the white space.
3. Binge Watching Netflix and DVR Shows - This is my Friday night. I let my shows accumulate, I get into my comfy clothes and blanket, and snuggle in for the night. This probably sounds really boring to some but I love it!!! It’s probably the only time that I’m truly relaxed. One of our dogs is really old . . . 17 years. Her name is Lady. I call her my Old Lady now. I make sure to give her lots of lovin’ during Friday night binges.
4. Visit Friends - I have two best friends. One is my best friend from college, Elena. I love visiting her during holidays. When I visit her and her family, it’s just like being home. Her daughters called me Tia Loca. We have so much fun together! The best part of our visit is that their kitchen gets a thorough cleaning. Super weird, but I love cleaning kitchens . . . so relaxing. I will definitely be visiting them soon. My other friend is Joan. We started out as running buddies. Now we’re geocaching buddies. We’ve done dozens of 5Ks together and a couple of Vegas half marathons. We don’t run too fast, but we sure have fun. A geocaching adventure is definitely on our calendar.
5. Weekends with Family - Both of our children are in college in Orange County. We’ve taken to weekend trips with the kids. Sometimes we meet for the weekend in San Diego or Palm Springs. Other times we go see them. Of course, my daughter’s kitchen gets a good cleaning! We were at our son’s last weekend. This may be gross but I’m dying to clean his bathroom! Getting away to see our children makes me so happy and really is relaxing.
These are my #MyRelaxing5. I’m feeling a little guilty for not putting reading on my list. But, to be honest, I have a really hard time reading for pleasure during the school year. I always have an education related book that I’m working on. My recreational reading will have to wait until summer.
What are your relaxing 5? I challenge you to write them up and share them with us on Twitter. Even if you don’t write them up, the reflective process is well worth it.
#MuchLove . . . Marilyn ❤
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