Curve Balls

WARNING: I’ll probably overdo this blog thing.  Case in point:

We think we know exactly where that ball is going, and then…

Swing and a strike.

Stupid curve ball!

Curve balls are a common occurrence in probably every aspect of our lives.  Even the 100-Day Heart Challenge.  Stuff happens.  Things get in the way and try to derail our best intentions.

Last night was one of those 100-Day curve ball nights.  Curve balls create stress.  Stress that says, “Hey—you’ve got crap happening and you don’t need to deal with all that healthy eating or exercise, at least for a couple of days, right?”

Sure (said the spider to the fly).

Last night my granddaughter was admitted to the hospital.  Not a huge deal (we hope); mostly precautionary: 24 hours of observation and IV fluid replacement.

I remember these kinds of things when it was my own kids.  It didn’t matter if was a mountain or a mole hill—“something is wrong with my kid and I’ll drop everything ‘til all is well again.”  Note: the stress level doesn’t decrease with grandkids.  At least not for me.  If anything, it’s gotten worse.  Now I’m not only worried about the sick grandkid, but I’m also worried about my kid and how she’s dealing with the whole thing.

But I digress.  Sorry.  I tend to do that a lot (and ramble on about nothing).

With all this going on last night and today, it’s been very tempting on a few occasions to drop the ball, at least temporarily.  Dinner at Wendy’s or pizza delivered by Domino’s would have been very easy and convenient.  Cancelling my training session this morning with McCade so I could get an extra hour of sleep sounded soooooo good at 12:30, 2:30, 4:15, and 6:00.

The smoke from the fires could have been another swing and a miss.  It’s too smoky to run outside.

A baseball game. 

Weeds in the garden. 

A book I’m so close to finishing.

Big and small.  Important and trivial.  They all compete for my time and attention.  And many of these things should rank very high on my priority list (if not the top spot).  But if I cut bait on the first snag that comes along, I'm not really making those lifestyle changes that this program is all about.  I need to learn to deal with what life gives me and still make those heart-healthy choices.

Look at me waxing all pontifical… (eyes rolling)

All I intended/wanted to say here is this: I found a legitimate reason to cut a corner on one meal and one training session, but I didn’t.  No one suffered a lack of attention as a result.  Sure the boy wasn’t as happy with dinner (a frozen pizza from the freezer) as he would have been with pizza delivery, but he survived; and I spent some quality time with my daughter and son-in-law at the hospital.

I think it’s human nature for us/me to look for or make excuses when we really don’t need to. 

There’s got to be a lesson in there somewhere.