New blog post: Q3 reflections
Preface
Q3 started off with hot weather and 3 kite days within a week - around July 4th. I think that's when I felt I "really made it" as far as kiteboarding in Colorado goes.
Still no car as it's built without airbags, but hopefully it comes through soon.
August started with some family difficulties as my parents are aging, and I almost had to cancel my trip to help. But thankfully my brother was able to, and then there was a lovely trip to Europe. My partner and I visited Slovenia, Croatia and Ireland. I loved something about each. One highlight that was totally unexpected was raw milk, available at vending machines in Slovenia. Incredible! Loved the food, the beaches, the greenery and narrow roads of Ireland, the landscape overall everywhere, and nice people too. Slovenia and Croatia were quite hot, and this is why we don't usually travel in August... It was amazing to see my high school friend and his wife, and spend the day together having food and wine!
I got a LOT of sun this spring/summer/fall, and it felt great. I really wanted the trip as a refresher/step-back from work as I had been kind of burnt out since April. Returned in September and felt more motivated, and was able to continue taking kite-days off, and help with growing the business and closing a new project. I returned with a mission of nurturing my shoulder and elbow, and that's gone fairly well (though I still have the same patterns that make it sore). Lastly but not least, I am determined to see my family twice a month and have been holding to that for September and October! With the holidays now it'll be even easier.
It's nearly halfway through Q3 as I write this, and I'll cover some reflections on October as well while I'm at it. I was able to get about 20 kite days this year in Colorado, which is more than I had in Mexico. So I feel like I'm making the most and embracing the local options. I was even able to foil for a couple of short sessions, and am excited to do that more after I sharpen my skills in Mexico. To end October, I got myself a new kite which arrived in early November.
Got to see some awesome concerts this summer/fall as well: Cold War Kids and Glass Animals!
Did some serious work outs in September especially and going into October, and really strengthened my legs and arms. I've gained muscle as well. This has been going very well this year and I feel in better shape than last year! My weight has been fairly steady around the high 180s, near 190 now, and my waist measurements are unchanged so most of the gain has been muscle. Amazing!
Seeing my parents has been nice as well. I got to play tennis with my dad a few times, and really enjoyed it.
Therapy's been great too, have made some important strides on feeling into anger and frustration, and integrating those into the rest of "me", as opposed to pushing it aside or repressing it. I think it's helped me defuse the feelings more often than not, so I don't "blow up".
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:
- Great workouts, did a 4x/week workout + 1 day of swimming consistently for 4 weeks, on top of kiting every other week or so. Once sleep quality declined, I took some rest and then got back into it.
- Swimming has been phenomenal. I set a new personal record of swimming 750m in about 30m (and that's about 30 laps of the pool). With breaks of course, but since then I've been swimming about 600m with fewer and fewer breaks, and quicker, and it is starting to get easier (my pulse feels lower, e.g. 140s, as opposed to 150-160). Excited to swim at least 1x/week and even 2x/week during winter. I've gotten really into the flow with it!
- 20 days of kiting for 2024. I even got to kite 1 day in Orebic Croatia, beautiful waters! Surprisingly many people were out on the water! Mostly windurfers, it's one of the windsurfing meccas of Europe. Kite sessions definitely got long, some days I was able to ride for 3-4 hours in total. Sometimes my left quad would act up, and I got more mindful about my posture on the water which seemed to help. I developed a great routine around my kite trips to Aurora and Hattie, with magnesium spray, snacks, massage gun, enjoying warm lunches and tasty drinks, leaning into warm teas as it got colder. Very fun and rewarding.
- I have a good understanding of my left elbow pain, and it seems to be mostly tied to my work posture and typing. My right arm has been doing fine.
- Continued PT and scheduled acupuncture as a next step.
- Awareness of stress, frustration, and pent-up anger, sitting with that at times has helped. Used the punching bag when I felt into it too
- Lots of sun, fun road trips in Croatia
- Had some awesome nights of sleep through the night, and generally don't wake up more than 1x/night now, except when I push myself to far that my brain is buzzing all day, or my body is exhausted from workout/long kite days.
- Consistent long walks in summer
- Happy with my current weight. Would like to continue working out, but also manage to rest right now.
- Digestion has continued to be good!
- Core workouts have been awesome for kiting! They help with swimming too. Plan to keep doing that at least 1x/week.
- No longer sweating excessively. Seemed to be mainly from too much magnesium combined with stress. Instead, I increased potassium and sodium, and my muscles have done better with that as well.
- Very strong legs, glutes by the end of the September workout. Feeling solid!
Improvement:
- Getting back into yoga/pilates as it gets colder and in between workout breaks
- Not as good about taking breaks/resting my eyes as I had some long workweeks, mainly in October.
- Still aching in my left neck/shoulder area. Elbow not really aching, but it's all connected.
Emotional: Warmth and Connectedness
Emotionally there was definitely some stress, anger, and sadness around my family. Had a fight with my partner as well and we learned from that, I got to work through it and it's been much better since. We're a team!
My dad is aging and supporting him can be a challenge. Right now it's mostly on my mom, but I try and help (and feel like I should more - guilt). Q3 marked a turning point, late July specifically, and I just want to make sure I spend quality time with my parents. It's been rewarding to be able to do so, and through therapy I'm exploring the feelings of guilt/what I feel I should be doing...
Celebrations:
- Supporting family, seeing parents more.
- Worked through the fight with my partner and got to explore that more together as well as on my own. It's been helpful and nice to come together.
- Enjoying time with the kitties, Olive especially relaxes me and loves to sit in my lap at the start of the workday.
- Making friends/kite community (I'm part of a group now)
- Great to see my high school best friend and his wife in Croatia!
- Therapeutic time in water, exploring sights, walking through European landscapes
- Got into a work project and having fun with that! Now to balance it with stepping away/detachment
- Continued awareness of stress state/PNS, frustration and anger
- Giving myself time to wind down
- Found more peace around wind/kite days, deciding when to go vs not. Though I'd still like to debate less...
- Really enjoyed making bread and my partner took it to another level!
Room for improvement:
- Still chasing. It's an embedded pattern for me, even in ways I reach for relaxation. Just got to be more patient... So, awareness of PNS: yes. Downregulating it: mostly, except on busy days or when I get caught up in something. It has been more rare (1-2x/mo?)
- Am not really doing afternoon rests, but maybe in winter I can...
Mental: Tranquility, Roots and Leadership
Pretty similar to Q2. Q3 was definitely more relaxed. I got some guilt off my chest by telling my coworkers I'm probably gonna take it easy for the summer, and I really did. I took a step back and focused on enjoying life for a bit.
That was great, and culminated with a fun and relaxing trip, including chill beach time in Orebic, Croatia.
Made great progress working through my anger, and my sleep has improved from lower stress/less brain buzzing as well.
Celebrations:
- Added a noon-ish walk to the workday.
- Deep breaths, let go of sense of urgency.
- Delivered and followed through at work, was able to hire more folks in October and grow a bit again.
- Some full nights of sleep, especially the last couple of weeks: no snacks, sleeping through the night.
- Continued to manage my backlog of tasks to unload my brain, prioritizing very well during September and October to continue enjoying kite days.
- Finished a Romanian book, finally! Started a second one during my August trip and plan to finish that too.
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
Q3 was my favorite in this dimension. I loved loved loved getting so much sun and spending time in nature. Spending time and Lake Bohinj in Slovenia was beautiful. Other beach time as well. And time at Hattie and Aurora kiting, 20 days overall this year is amazing.
I'm also feeling the joy of spending quality time with the kitties and giving them attention. Watching shows and laughing with my partner. Seeing my parents twice a month.
Enjoying life, as much as possible, I find a lot of peace and acceptance around that.
Quality time with friends has been great too. Playing games. Paddle boarding.
Celebrations:
- So much kite time, sun, meeting new wind folks
- So much nature time on the trip, and enjoying food, life, walking. Very slow mornings in Ireland at the BnB.
- Seeing family and friends
- Integrating my anger and embracing it as a human emotion.
Room for improvement
- More time with my brother and his kids
- Dropped off meditating... Want to pick it back up.
- Start a family?
Present and future
Q3 has brought me closer to connection and nature, and also brought some growth in business.
I feel strong and healthy, fitter than last year, and very grateful for the opportunities of this year. I'm glad I was able to step back from work for a few months and enjoy the rest of life more. Great to get into some solid workouts, swimming, tennis with dad, kitefoil a bit in Colorado, and now, as it's getting cold, enjoying warm drinks and wearing slippers :)
I'm more at peace with running the business for now, and hope that the next 6 months will be lower stress on that front.
I look forward to more family time during the holiday season, to continue swimming and workouts, combined with yoga/pilates. Hope to also pick up meditating regularly.
There are some house things to take care of: garden beds, rebuilding a deck, but that's for next spring.
To follow last quarter's ending, here are the top 5 things for the rest of the year:
- Stay fit, continue moving
- Explore further physical nourishment, reduce pain and discomfort in neck and shoulder: acupuncture, targeted massage, dry needling, PT, and more.
- Spend QT with family, parents especially.
- Nervous system downtime. Awareness of stress levels and take a step back.
- Enjoy the holidays!