1- Weather anxiety
Agh. Summer in FL is never pleasant; people always assume this means “hot”, like Arizona or something. Yes, it’s a bit hot that is not the issue. Rather, it’s the near-constant threat of flooding downpours and violent thunderstorms.
As much as it is nice to feel rooted in a community, the ultimate would be living here Nov – May and then leaving for somewhere else for 6 months. Unfortunately – that is unlikely to be feasible for the next two least 2 decades or so, and thus I’d better find some ways to embrace the coziness and settle in.
Today I have to attend resident graduation which is #(%*#$ at a beach hotel an hour from my house and I am . . . not thrilled about it, to say the least. Of course I want to celebrate our graduates, but my weather anxiety is basically all I can think about.
That said, maybe I’ll luck out and the hours I am driving will be okay; it’s still a possibility as these storms can be spotty. I will turn on calming music and focus on the road.
2- Stoicism! Seems like a perfect opportunity to practice some stoicism-inspired thinking from my current non-fiction. I can think about all of worse things that could be happening, like an active hurricane warning (though in that case, we would cancel graduation so . . . maybe I need more practice at this stoicism thing).
All that said, the chapter I just finished was super interesting in that it discussed the value of spending some time contemplating losing everything, and even noted that being aware you will have a ‘last time’ doing everything can heighten your appreciation of those things in the moment. I think this is one reason why the Wait But Why The Tail End series is so powerful. If you haven’t read this – you should!
3- Workout-related. I am doing Total Strength with Andy 2. I’m only 1 week in of 6 weeks total. My only complaint thus far is that there is not enough lower body work! Is this a ‘male instructor’ thing to focus on upper? Maybe it’s coming . . . or maybe I just need to increase my weights for the lower body segments. Once I am done with this I might try Madeline Moves or EMPowered Fitness workouts that aren’t video based . . .
I’m also running 3x/week and have had some halfway decent tempo runs lately. But the running weather sucks right now so better to have a strength focus in the summer and maybe I will do another half marathon this winter. I have done the one below before and it is super easy and scenic.
4- Weekend project will be camp packing. The kids’ trunks get picked up JUNE 9 and shipped all the way to NY for camp!! I am a bit overwhelmed especially given that I’ve never done this and have two to pack for, but this likely weekend of storms & screen time will probably be perfect for getting this done.
5- Solo parenting ep! I greatly enjoyed this ep as someone who does quite a bit of solo parenting. One strategy they didn’t mention as much was making social plans (with other parents / kids – especially if they are solo-ing too!) when you have a solo weekend looming – that has been my personal lifesaver!
I do agree sometimes it’s easier to parent solo though not for days at a time. This one threw an epic tantrum last night because I couldn’t apply her bandaid as well as her teacher (all of those years of medical training and apparently I can’t pass a 4 year old’s bandaid test!?).
But ultimately she actually apologized and snuggled with me and it was the best ending to the night AND Josh arrived home to help with the other two. So I digress, but yes – plenty of solo parenting around here.
Happy Friday and wish me luck on my Tropical Storm drives today. Hopefully I will be here tomorrow.
12 Comments
My main objection to The beachbody lift program was the focus on upper body to the relative exclusion of leg work. I do think this may be a man thing. Men care about how their chests look – hence tons and tons of chest presses. Less so about how their butts look hence fewer squat like exercises.
I’m sure you’ll have fun at the graduation once you get there! Drive safely!
Have you ever tried Caroline Girvan on YouTube? She has several free workout programs and they are amazing!
I find her actually a little TOO intense! I did half of epic 1 and quit. I found it almost too cardiovascularly demanding when I prefer to keep my strength more about just the lifting than the endurance. But i would try her again!
Also came to recommend Caroline Girvan again- I’m currently following her ‘Iron Series’ in which workouts are 35 minutes or less, with more of a lifting/strength focus and less cardio/HIIT. I think you would enjoy it!
Our bad weather seasons are reverse. So maybe come to Minnesota May through November, or really June through October because May and November can suck here. 😉 I try to talk about where we will live in retirement but my husband is not a long range planner so the conversations do not go anywhere but there is NO WAY I will live in Minnesota for 12 months of the year when we are both done working! Winters are way way way too brutal! But I am sorry you are already entering tropical storm season. Parenting is so much harder when the weather limits what you can do.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the solo parenting episode yet, but will on my solo drive with my 18mo old today. I feel like I am far from a stage where solo parenting is easier than having my husband around. Maybe when the youngest is 4-5 I would find solo parenting easier or easyish? The baby/toddler years are HARD for me – and exhausting. We’ll each solo parent a child this weekend and I would say Phil has the easier job with the 4yo, but they are limited in what they can do since Paul tested positive for covid on Wednesday night (so much for June looking up…). I’ll have the harder job with the 18mo and the 3.5 hour solo drives each way will suck and may contain lots of screaming and crying since the toddler hates drives longer than 30 min… But at least I”ll have help from my parents and will see my sister and her 15mo! So the positives outweigh the unpleasant drive!
Weather anxiety is real, so I am here with you on that one. Stick with one weather app and tune out all the noise (media, chatter, etc). Yes for making plans when solo parenting. 😉
Have always wanted to ask you…do you find traffic horrendous in your area even on a good day? We were in Weston/Miami/ft Lauderdale a few years back, and the highways and traffic seemed INSANE to me. Like, SO many lanes, cars seemed to be going 100mph all the time, weaving in and out… I found it terrifying!! And we had no weather to deal with – was March and we had sunny days. Is it always like that?? I feel like I’m pretty decent at handling traffic, but jeesh! I forget the name of the major Highway we were on a lot of the time. I think I actually said, “I don’t think I could live and drive here!” 😅
We were on the same roads last year when on vacation and I, too, thought of Sarah and wondered if she drove in this crazy traffic all the time?!
Pretty used to it/desensitized I think! I’m much more intimidated by NYC traffic than our highways (with whizzing Teslas and Lambos sometimes … lol)
I started EMPowered workouts 4 weeks ago (per Kae’s blog rec) as I’m trying to do more strength vs. cardio and so far am enjoying them. There are 5/week and I’m aiming for 3/week and just following along as they go/rescheduling as needed. For $20/month, feeling like it’s worth it as I definitely needed some support vs. doing it on my own at home after doing more Beachbody/cardio for the past few years. Since I’m pretty new/back to strength workouts, I’m planning to follow same 5 workouts for at least 8 weeks and then reassess.
The bandaid story is TOO funny. I’ve had my kids do the same thing to me (I tried to just be thankful they have loved their preschool/elementary teachers so much)?
I feel the same about where we live in Canada. I love living here from May to October, and then want to leave for the winter. Also not feasible for me yet, but definitely something we’re working toward in the future. The constant threat of hurricanes must be a low-level (and then spiked anxiety) anxiety all the time in this season. They can grow big so quickly; we’re actually in the tail-end of a hurricane zone; much less than what you get, but I just got a warning that they’re expecting a worse-than-average year this year. It’s jarring because sometimes you really only get a day or two notice and SO much damage can happen so quickly so it takes perpetual readiness.
Safe travels – hope all went smoothly. And happy packing this weekend. What a relief it will be when that is done!!
I’m sending the solo parenting episode to my husband, who does way more of it than I do. I felt a bit daunted when he left early one morning and I had to do wake up, breakfast, and drop-off. When I’m home, I help my son get ready but then he goes down with dad for breakfast while I drink my tea and wake up, and then I meet him downstairs and we cycle to preschool. For some reason, doing the whole routine felt daunting to me, I think because I’m used to that 15 minutes to wake up, get dressed, gather my thoughts.
We’re on 9 months of me being gone quite a bit, and I think we’ve learned some things – visitors are not always helpful, and sometimes it’s better to just get on with the routine. For some reason, the idea that I leave and then grandparents come/leave upsets my son. But playdates are super helpful if I’m away at the weekend, they give my husband some adult interaction and a break from full on parenting. And I have no involvement in what happens whilst I’m away, sometimes I’ll make some cookies before I leave but I just need to let them get on with it.