A Sense of Confidence

I am now a full member of society (as they said at graduation on Sunday). I'm now fully engaged in preparations for my coming adventure.

I can proudly say that I have reached a new level of confidence. I have been rightly concerned about my trip across the country, until very recently. While there is of course still a tinge of nervousness, it is accompanied by great confidence. I have yet to embark on my 65-miler, but I have had some AMAZING shorter rides around town. Most recently, I have been loving the 3.8 mile loop around a nature preserve near my house. It's packed full of hills, gradual inclines, and flat streaks, which is great for training! I also have yet to go there without seeing wildlife, which always makes my day. A couple loops around is perfect ride in the morning.

On another note...I'm in love with my wonderful bike! I've been riding it for several weeks now and it feels great. I plan on taking it to my local bike shop to get it more accurately fitted, but so far it is great. And it's RED! I couldn't ask for more in a bike.

Soon to come: my packing list! (the most fun part of the trip :))

Yoga

What an incredible form of stress management, exercise, and flexibility and strength training. I've just started taking yoga classes again and I'm super excited about it. A local studio offers a class that is unlike any other form of yoga, thought most closely resembles bikram or hot yoga. The teachers describes it as "a non-traditional form of yoga performed on a BOSU, which provides the opportunity to challenge the body to do more work than it has ever done before" (http://theyogafactory.com/Yogasu.aspx).   The balance was difficult on top of the BOSU and my muscles were screaming (my 30 mile bike ride yesterday didn't help); I can't wait to try more. Plus, the room was 90 degrees and humid, which was perfect for stretching, but was accompanied by mass amounts of sweat - sorry to get graphic.

Yoga is so vital to dealing with stress for me and I think everybody would benefit from doing a bit of it every week. Connecting the mind and body is so important for our wellness, especially if we're anxiety prone; what better and more fun way to do it than yoga!!!

No Need to Worry

Worry: to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/worry)

Everybody worries too much...at least I know I worry a lot and I know that I often worry about unnecessary things.  I was talking to my dad about this and he gave me some great advice he heard from our preacher.  You just have to keep in mind two things.

1. 99% of things we worry about, don't actually happen.
2. The other 1% usually never turns out as bad as we thought it would.

 Just living my this simple idea could make life much easier.  While I may not stop worrying altogether, this idea with help dampen my irrational fears.  Try it.