My Do-Over

I can’t decide if Fall or Spring is my favorite time of year. Fall holds the promise of leaves changing colors, a welcome respite from the heat of summer and the promise and excitement of the upcoming holiday season. Ahhh, but Spring; Spring brings the sense of renewal, restoration, and new beginnings. A chance to start over and set things right. This time of year lets me refocus and rededicate myself to the things I want to do to work on myself—emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Perhaps my New Year’s resolutions are a distant memory, and that remorse from not doing all the things I wanted to do has me feeling depressed or anxious. This year I am choosing to allow Spring to be my second chance, my do over or my mulligan.

I didn’t complete the 40-day meditation workshop I signed up for, and am falling a little short on my training plan for bike races this season. But that’s OK! I’m making progress and I need to celebrate and acknowledge my accomplishments and not focus on what I didn’t do. Progress, not perfection. We are all so busy with our families, jobs, relationships and life. I’m happy and contented with what I’ve got done so far this year.

I’m using the rest of the year to just be Ok with myself and what I can realistically get done and not get done. And, this goes for my yoga and meditation practice as well. I beat myself up over missing two days in a row of getting up a half hour early to meditate. But I did make five days in a row. I made yoga four days this week and even got some good training rides in.

I think I need to quit being so hard on myself. I need to treat myself like I would treat one of my friends. Some time I can really rock a “lord of the dance” pose. Sometimes I’m all over the place and my balance is off. When I’m on my mat I accept that easily and wait for the next cue and finish my flow. I need to take that mindset from my mat and incorporate it into my life off the mat. I think that is why I come to my mat each time—to be still, to listen and to learn.

Those bright green, new leaves on all the trees look beautiful. Our outside world has been renewed and refreshed. We’ve gone from the drab days of winter to bright days of Spring. Almost like the world is back in balance. So my take away is to accept that sometimes I’m in balanced and sometimes I need to work through “stuff”. But I’m OK, and I’m gonna be Ok as long as I accept myself and treat myself with love as I would a friend