LET US GIVE THANKS FOR DO-OVERS

 

What I did with my October: Falstaff, Opera Idaho. L-R: Elizabeth Ashantiva as Nannetta, Tiffany Calas as Meg, Leslie Mauldin as Alice, me as Quickly.

Can I just have a do-over for the first two weeks of November? (Well, except for Election Day; I don't think any of us wants to relive that, whether you're estatic or desperate over the outcome). Despite having embarked on this month full of enthusiasm and armed with a plan, I quickly got bitch-slapped down to the ground with a weird combination of illness, injury, and exhaustion which  leached my strength and endurance on every level. Feeling poorly is never convenient, but my schedule since getting off the plane from Boise hasn't let up for a minute: immediate rehearsals and performances for Spotlight on Opera's  Fright Night at the Opera, our supercool Halloween show; a trip to hurricane-ravaged New York just in time to slog to my auditions and lessons through a snowstorm; rehearsal and a performance of a fundraiser the day after I got back.  There's no avoiding a lot of walking in New York, so the knee is mucho unhappy again, when it seemed to have been getting better. I mustered just enough energy to drag myself through everything, and still give what I thought were pretty good auditions, but each of these activities left me completely drained, and I just have not been myself --- forgetting things, getting times wrong, unable to put two words together in a coherent sentence.

 

 

8:15 p.m., Nola Studios, NY. Having slogged through the nor'easter to get to my audition, I pause here at the elevator to immortalize the moment, so you may all share in the glory and glamour that is the life of an opera singer. You 'll just have to take my word that under the duck boots and puffy coat, I was EXTREMELY glam.

 So, there's my sob story, and to sum up, except for one or two good sessions before I headed out to NY and all the walking I did there, there has been NO exercise and my eating has, quite frankly, been lousy.

 

One of my friends has recently been ultra-stressed, studying for comps and trying to maintain a workout routine, and at some point, she just gave herself permission to let it for for a short time while she concentrated on her studies. As disapppointed as I am with my lousy start to November, I'm making an executive decision not to beat myself up and not to make myself crazy trying to "catch up". In fact, although I am feeling a lot better, the truth is I am still tired and my knee is still pretty jacked up, and the really healthy thing to do right now is probably to give myself a break on the working out for a few more days at least. But I CAN concentrate on healthy eating.

Here's the good thing:  you can start over again, as many times as you need to, whenever you need to. It all counts. And there's still time to make sure the holidays are healthy.

So, do-over. And if you need one, you can have it too. You can start right this instant, even if you just had a gigantic piece of chocolate cake and a triple pumpkin spice latte with extra whipped cream for breakfast. Who's with me?

Comments

[Cindy]

Thanks, Nancy. Yoga is always a great solution!

And thanks, everyone else, too. We'll get there. We'll all get there!

[RebeccaNYC]

Its deja-vu all over again. And like Karen, the idea of unlimited do overs is really heartening to me. one foot in front of the other here.....

(oh and do I feel your knee pain. It's really a b&*%h, right?)

[Nancy Giguere]

Cindy, Sounds like you're exhausted. Maybe you could try a little R & R using this short meditation--you can do it lying down.

http://alignmentyoga.blogspot.com/2009/02/three-fundamentals.html

If you like it, you can download the audio for your IPod. I start every yoga class like this, and my students love it.

[Karen]

Ah, do-overs. How quickly are they forgotten, or assumed to be copouts. Not so.

And the idea that we have an unlimited number of do-overs is a great comfort. Thank you for the reminder.

[Cindy]

Girrrrrrl, good for you! I will cheer you on from the sidelines!

[rahree]

I am taking a do-over, too! Signed my out-of-shape, audition-weary fanny up for a 5k on Sunday morning. It's a-gonna be ugly, but i'm hoping it'll jump-start me for the holidays!

I'm with you!