“Turn it around.”
I recently shared a couple of photos on Instagram and Twitter, pics of my son and me out on a run, playing at the park, and enjoying donuts. It may appear we were sharing some fun mother and son moments, which we were, but there was more to the story.
Survive A Tough Morning Or…
Earlier that morning was one of “those” mornings. You know, where I was close to losing my shit. My child was being difficult and whiny and I was running out of ideas to distract or redirect him. And it was only 9:00.
My son is a very energetic child. Since the early days, he’s been restless, the opposite of a chill baby. He’s rarely content for more than 60 seconds and he’s a gigantic mama’s boy.
And earlier today, he was a monster 🙂
Add it all up and sometimes, this combo creates a perfect avenue for mom to lose her shit.
Out of ideas, I decided we’d layer up, go for a run, then stop at the park on our way home as we usually do. Abel loves being in the stroller and he loves the park, while I felt I could find some peace and stress relief in a run.
The only catch was, I had just run a half marathon the day before. And I’ve been dealing with an Achilles and mild plantar fasciitis issue so a run was the last activity I landed on.
You know, desperate times call for desperate measures. Also, running and having a good day tend to have a lot in common.
…Make It a Great Day
What ended up happening was one of the more fun outings Abel and I have had in awhile. About 2.5 miles in, we ran past a neighboring park and he started waving and excitedly chatting.
He can’t speak in sentences yet but I picked up what he was putting down. “Mom, let’s stop to play at this park.”
I stopped, Abel played, I stretched, and he burned some energy.
Then I noticed we were about half a mile away from Sandy’s donuts, the super awesome Fargo donut shop that had recently opened a location near our house. I’d been wanting to take him there so we made our next pit stop and he enjoyed a couple bites of his first-ever donut.
As we were running back home, my watch hit 4 miles and I realized we were still about half a mile from home. I thought, why not detour to make it an even five, then hit our usual park near our house.
A run, park pit stops, and donuts. Donuts FTW.
We stopped, polished off our donuts, Abel played more, I stretched more, then we trekked back home.
He was calmer and happier the rest of the morning, and the run felt awesome for me. No stiffness, no soreness, just light and fast. Probably a good thing I waited to eat my donut until our last pit stop, less than a quarter mile from home.
Choose To Be Happy
What could have been a draining, forgettable morning quickly became the opposite. What could have been me zoning out and focusing on time and distance quickly became less about the run and more about seizing moments.
Great moments often don’t happen by accident, they’re a result of choices. Also, can’t share this reminder enough: life is always more that how it appears on social media. There’s always more to a story than a picture or a post tells.
The next time you have a tough day, fight the urge to “just get through it” and think instead about how you could proactively turn it around. Maybe it involves exercise. Maybe it involves play. Hell, maybe the secret is donuts. Pretty sure Sandy’s donuts could solve any issue.
I’ll leave you with one more blog for some positivity and inspiration.
As always, the comments are all yours so feel free to share a thought on this topic. Connect with me @lindsayinreallife on Instagram or @LindsayIRL on Twitter, or subscribe to this blog so you get every week’s story sent straight to your inbox.