Coping with Different Emotions

Hello! I am a little bit behind on blogging...you will quickly learn why. I will do my best to catch-up without being overwhelming.

Last Wednesday started off great! It started with my weekly mind-body group. Our activity for the day was drawing a happy/safe place for ourselves. What first came to my mind was our trip to St. Martin last spring. My husband and I spoil ourselves on vacation, and the memory of standing on the beach is a very happy and safe place for me. This came in handy later...

I then did my monthly pilates class...remember, my goal is to do yoga and pilates at least one time per month (this seems small, but I spend so much time on cardio and weights that it makes sense for now). And just like last month, I loved it! I used my muscles in a way that is different than anything else.

My last scheduled activity for the day was dance class. To be honest...I was not exactly looking forward to it because it was tap week. I haven't done tap since 10th grade! I even went to class without tap shoes and soon regretted it. I had so much fun!!! Life lesson.- make yourself do things that are out of your comfort zone because you never know...

While in the shower after dance, I heard my phone ring and a voicemail alert. I somehow immediately knew something was wrong. It was a message from my mom telling me that my sister's dog got out of their yard (she's a runner). While waiting for my sister to call me and hoping that Maddie would return, we learned that she was killed by a car. I immediately dropped to the ground, hysterically crying. I was not only sad to lose Maddie, but I was so sad for my sister and her husband. We got in our car and drove to their house to be by their side. We stayed there until they needed to be alone and left with many unanswered questions. Tears continued while I lay in bed trying to fall asleep. I was having a hard time getting horrible thoughts and images out of my head, so I went back to my happy/safe place that I used earlier that day. It was amazing how it helped me fall asleep. If you have any sleep issues, you might want to try the imagery exercise.

If you recall, last week I told you about the active meditation of shaking that we did in our workshop. This came in handy on Thursday while I was still very emotional and needed to get out of the "funk." I tried to shake the thoughts and sadness off of me- it temporarily helped. You should all try it!

Needless to say, Wednesday night through Thursday night was a very draining and emotional 24 hours. When I finally had some energy on Friday, I expressed my anger and emotions through some intense cardio exercise on the eliptical and stairmaster. Pushing myself to my limits while listening to good music is such a stress relief! I would recommend this for anyone who is looking for stress reduction, an energy boost, a mood change, etc.

On Friday afternoon, I surprised my sister with some fun gifts and treats. While having a warm drink together at Caribou, I could tell that she was able to talk about Maddie more without crying- this was a good sign. I went back to her house with her, which was probably good so that she wasn't entering her dog-less house alone. I am trying to support her as much as possible without overstaying my welcome.

After only sleeping five hours Friday night, I was nervous about how my long day/night would go. Again, exercise saved me! I first taught Marsh X, which is a total conditioning class that utilizes TRX. I then taught Cycle, which is a great workout for me as well. I had enough energy to get through my busy day and my sister's birthday that night! I love what exercise can do for all of us!

Ok, I'm going to stop there for now, even though I have more things to share from Saturday, Sunday and today. You will just have to wait though:) Thanks for reading this long post...I think the writing process was healing for me.