Q2 reflections
Preface
Q2 started off with some fun adventures and warmer weather. Test driving cars (a new one is due!) and wow, cars have had quite the improvements over the last 10 years. Planting vegetables: carrots, lettuce and arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes... It's been proving to be a tough year for gardening due to high temperatures and basically no rain, but the leafy greens actually did OK.
Got more and more sun as the weather got warmer and days got longer. Finally, come mid-May, I got to kite in cool waters and lukewarm air temps, with gloves! First time ever. And I also got to kite in Aurora in Colorado, before the storm came I had a nice long session, and it was hot - nearly 90 and I was wearing a shorty. That was June. Super fun. Got a lot of windy days this year, I'm counting close to 10 in May and June. So grateful and I must say this has made me happy for weeks upon weeks, and also kept me in shape. My body's been handling it so well, too! I'm feeling more optimistic about foiling in CO/WY someday. This was the first year I got to kite 3 days within a week, and two of them in a row. Lots of driving, someday I hope to camp.
With some breaks, I continued working out and strengthening, and have been steadily increasing weights, maintaining muscle mass, and losing a bit of fat. No easy feat, and I'm finding it hard to gain muscle while losing fat, but I prefer the current tradeoff while I'm in the 180s.
My posture has been better, elbows and knees doing better as well. My neck/shoulder are sort of the last pieces that struggle. I'm doing home PT exercises to help improve my posture and it's slowly steadily working!
Got to spend more time with family, celebrating Easter, birthdays.
Got a new grill and hosted the family over. Watched lots of tennis with my partner, we had fun getting into it. As it got warmer, we had more mocktails. I've barely had any alcohol in Q2. Paddle boarded. Enjoyed a concert at Red Rocks. Had fun hand-making a gift for my partner. Got cornhole and enjoyed playing that with her as well.
Got some great tips and insights from my business group. Mainly, to organize the team a bit better so less falls on me. And then being able to share with the team how I honestly feel, and that I'd like to take advantage of the downtime instead of pushing myself for more work for a bit. Also took advantage of the downtime to catch up on long awaited business items and enjoy building a team. Grateful for a few opportunities to hire folks on new projects, started at least 2 new substantial projects in Q2 and continued hiring. Considering the tougher times the past year or so, it's been really good.
I think I am most grateful that I got to enjoy life outside of work, and was able to step away from stress, spend more time with family, getting sun, out in nature, at hot springs, disconnect.
My relationships are doing better, and I feel more like a team with my partner. There is work to do, for me personally on my inner anger and frustration. For the relationship, on communication and expectations. But we're in a bit better place than a couple months ago. Having more free time has also made it easier for me to be present.
Did not manage to get a car, but that's due to a long waitlist for hybrids. Ugh, a tradeoff. Patiently waiting can be hard!
Revisit resolutions
Here are 2024's focus areas:
- Physical: Steady and Balanced
- Emotional: Warmth and Connectedness
- Mental: Tranquility, Roots and Leadership
- Spiritual: Fly and Play
Physical: Steady and Balanced
I continued assisted/appointment PT, Rossiter and then home-PT. Overall feeling much better, minus the neck/shoulder area.
Celebrations:
- Continued workouts and ramping up weights and difficulty
- 10 days of kiting, seriously got some long sessions - 2.5+ hours a day a couple of times, 1.5 hours maybe longest session. Felt amazing. Sometimes my knees/quads would be tired and sore, but they recovered fairly quickly and I nurtured them and gave them rest, magnesium spray, massage gun, etc.
- Elbow pain even less than Q1, mostly left now.
- Consistent PT at home
- Awareness of stress levels. More patience with myself, healing, and more compassion for how I'm feeling.
- Enjoying the sun, the water, road trips/driving.
- Sleeping better since I made my bedroom darker. Still wake up around 2-3am, but usually fall back asleep within an hour.
- Longer walks, enjoying evenings especially.
- So grateful and confident about my kite flying skills. Had some amazing sessions and managed to get through lulls/gusts by using the right kite size and moving it consistently.
- Trampolining
- Continued to lose another pound or two. Arm measurements has dropped a bit more, as has waist. Gaining strength, though.
- Digestion has been very good!
- Added in core workouts to support my kiting, lower back, and work posture. It's been going well, even just 5-10m 3x/week!
- Taking breaks at work, resting my eyes - easier during downtimes.
Improvement:
- Punching bag a bit, also found other ways to release frustration
- Didn't do as much yoga/pilates in Q2. I did stretch, used foam roller and massage gun more though.
- Still want to get back into swimming
- Still aching in my left neck/shoulder area.
- Kept up with cardio for most of Q1, but heading into Q2 kind of lost that habit.
- Excessive sweating - palms, feet and armpits. Has gotten better end of Q2, something to keep an eye on. Could be a release of pent up stress and anxiety? Plus hot weather.
Emotional: Warmth and Connectedness
Emotionally I've been releasing more emotions and enjoying a more relaxed schedule. Still feeling quite tense in my neck and shoulders though.
Q2 has definitely been calmer so on that note, things have been going very well.
Celebrations:
- Continued therapy
- Meditations, workouts, emotional releases
- Played with friends, spent time with family, grilled
- Made friends/connections kiteboarding, some of which I hope to see again soon!
- More detached from work, relaxed more in the afternoons.
- Connected more deeply with my partner
- Continued awareness of stress state/PNS
- Taking it easier in evenings, doing nothing a bit here and there
Room for improvement:
- Still tensing myself up, chasing stuff during the workday and sometimes after, trying to keep busy.
- Had a difficult disagreement with my partner, still processing that.
- Would still like to see my parents more
Mental: Tranquility, Roots and Leadership
As noted, patience overall is doing well. I still tend to run in alert-mode, but it's been easier not to. I worked on average fewer hours in May and June. April was still stressful. June especially was more relaxing and I felt the spaciousness of shorter workdays and fun activities.
Unfortunately my anger still reared its head and I'm looking at working through that in therapy the rest of this year.
Celebrations:
- More breaks through the workday. Walks. Trampoline.
- Deep breaths, let go of sense of urgency.
- Lead the team compassionately, share how I'm doing and my struggles.
- Very rarely mind spinning at night. Typically slept without struggle.
- Great practice keeping a backlog of my daily tasks and prioritizing those week to week.
- Been reading a Romanian book more steadily. Past halfway?
Room for improvement:
- Not as mindful of dorsal/ventral transitions. Want to revisit that more often.
- Still chasing/sense of urgency
- Want to write in Romanian soon!
Spiritual: Fly and Play
Just spending time in the sun and nature, on long drives, on lakes kiteboarding has been very spiritual. Continued to meditate and reflect on my life as well. As I'm getting older, parents as well, there is more opportunity to focus on what really matters. Connection and shared experiences.
Celebrations:
- Seeing family and friends
- Nature time. Really enjoying being out on the water, driving there and back. Patiently waiting for the wind.
- Meditating 1x/day
- Enjoyed a trip to BV to relax at the hot springs. Walks. Taking it easy. Sleeping in and taking slow mornings.
- Sharing how I'm doing with my team at work and feeling supported there.
Room for improvement
- More time with family
- Second daily meditation
- Spend more time with friends, this has been tough in Q1.
- Cultivate sense of connection with others and nature more
Present and future
Q2 has made me happier to be alive, love and be loved. Just being able to get some sun, free time, people time, make new friends, kiteboard my butt off, feel supported, and overall enjoy being in Colorado and being outside, all really helped.
I'm still questioning the future of running a business, but having had an easier couple of months I'm at least getting back some energy to continue and contribute.
Overall, it feels like the first half of this year flew by. I feel a bit better about life and the future, with the exception of my parents aging and wanting to spend more time with them. As time passes, they may need cared for more and we may want to live closer together. Hopefully that doesn't all come down at once, and we get more years able to enjoy family time without serious health challenges.
To follow last quarter's ending, here are the top 5 things for Q3:
- Process anger, frustration
- Deeper dive into partner relationship, process our (anti-)patterns
- Nervous system downtime. Enjoy August trip/vacation.
- Continue physical exercise: cardio, kite, workout, yoga, release.
- See parents monthly.