Yoga to Pilates to Yoga

I’ve been doing Pilates since the end of 2017 every Tuesday lunchtime. The studio is just around the corner from my office and it was a bargain (€30 – €40) for six classes. I started off doing Pilates on Tuesdays and yoga on Thursdays. Then my yoga studio closed down so it’s just been Pilates so far this year.

Lately, I’ve been struggling to keep up with Pilates. Tuesdays are the days I visit my grandmother after work so it’s a long day. I find I dread it too often. And I’ve been so exhausted that I’ve scared myself a few times nearly nodding off while driving. I decided to quit Pilates but I didn’t feel good about it. Not because I’d miss it, but I just felt like a quitter.

Just last week I discovered a yoga studio near where I live. It’s not as close as my previous one but it’s only about a 5-10 minute drive. They have classes on evenings and weekends. I miss yoga. I think it’s better for my mental health. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Pilates. I felt like I really got a good workout, which is what made me reluctant to quit. I’m not ruling out going back to it, perhaps somewhere else down the line.

Today was my last class and I’m hoping to start yoga either this week or next week. I wondered if I’d made the right choice but after a particularly tough class today and my excitement to get back into yoga, I believe I have.

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A freelance writer

Looking back to the advice given in The Artist’s Way, you should accept opportunities when they are given to you or something to that effect. So when I received a chance to do content writing through a freelancing site, I decided what the hell? It pays peanuts but I’m doing it more for the experience, not just for future gigs but also to keep me writing. Lately, there hasn’t been much work but what I have done has been interesting. I swore to myself that if I find it’s becoming a chore or the thoughts of doing it make me anxious then I’ll stop, but so far so good.

My comfort zone

I just started reading The Confidence Kit by Caroline Foran. I mentioned her before when I was reading her first book: Owning It. Basically, she tries to help you work with your anxiety rather than against it. I’ve only read one chapter, but it’s already explained in plain text to me what was wrong with me this past weekend.

On Friday, I travelled down the country to Waterford with my work colleagues for our annual summer outing. I opted to do the water sports as my chosen activity, which involved kayaking, canoeing, and stand-up paddleboarding. I was terrified of the paddle boarding because I was convinced I would fall in…and I did! Twice! I never got to fully experience it and I’m full of regret because my fear took over. That evening we stayed in a lovely river-side hotel and had dinner. Once we were kicked out of the dining area around 10.30pm, I slipped back to my room and went to bed, deciding I had pushed my social anxiety far enough.

It was that night that I was asked to bring my niece to see Taylor Swift the following night (Saturday), as her stepdad had to cancel. I wasn’t a Taylor Swift fan – nothing against her, I just never really listened to her music. I was reluctant, though, because I knew I’d be exhausted. I went nonetheless and her show was nothing less than AMAZING! My niece had a fantastic time, which was the most important thing. I got home at around 12.30am and set my alarm for 9.00am the following morning, why?

Another last minute addition to my calendar was volunteering for a sponsored dog walk that I do every year, but didn’t realise it was that weekend. Everyone told me to cancel, but I couldn’t. I wound up ignoring my alarm and sleeping until 11.30am (we were supposed to meet in the park at 12.15pm). Needless to say I was late, but just by half an hour. And again, I enjoyed it.

I vowed to do nothing when I got home except relax and finally finish the last Lord of the Rings book.

Feeling so overwhelmed could simply be the reason I was in a weird humour all weekend, or PMS (sorry!). But now that I’ve read in-depth about the concept of the comfort zone, I realise that I was so far out of my comfort zone all weekend and that’s why I was out of sorts. You need breaks in between and it felt like I never stopped. I’ll be sure to avoid this in the future, all I’m doing this coming weekend is going to a show on Friday evening, and to the dentist on Saturday (yay). That’s it!

Something is not right

There are plenty of reasons not to buy a particular house – too much work needs to be done, rough neighbourhood, etc. However, yesterday evening my fiancé and I viewed a house in a nice area that, yes, needed some work, but nothing out of the ordinary. As we discussed it later, we realised that something put us off this particular house but we couldn’t quite put our fingers on it.

The previous owner died (whether in the house or not, I don’t know). I can’t help but wonder, was the house haunted perhaps? I’ve read so many paranormal stories of people stepping into houses/buildings and getting an uneasy feeling. I didn’t feel afraid or anything, but there was something bothering me throughout my time in there that I still can’t explain.

Whatever it was, we won’t be finding out!

Yoga Glo

I’m always hearing ads on my podcasts but never really gave them much thought. I stopped doing yoga at the end of last year when the studio I attended closed down. I’ve tried apps and YouTube videos but I just couldn’t follow them. Right now I’m on a 15 day free trial for Yoga Glo, which was advertised on the Unsolved Murders podcast. I’ve done three sessions so far and I like it. It’ll be $18 per month (I think) if I decide to stick with it, but obviously I’m unsure because I’m saving every penny I have. I have to decide if it’ll be worth it!

Life on hold

When you’re saving every penny you have for a mortgage deposit, it’s hard to justify buying certain things. Everyone around me is going on nice holidays and/or buying new cars. House hunting is very disheartening right now because every house we’ve considered so far has been snapped up because we can’t compete with the high bids. I feel like we’re going to have to settle for a house that may need more than cosmetic work, so naturally, this has got me down. I don’t really have anything to look forward to, just mountains of debt.

[Self-pity rant over].