Winter Break

The past two weeks have been by far the most relaxing moments of 2013. The moment I got off for winter break I unplugged my life, well for the most part... I did tweet. Throughout December I felt the entire weight of the world on my shoulders. The Champ was working an easy 60 hours a week, I was gone 50, the house was a wreck, we didn't have time together, there was no "me time" and life just felt...overwhelming.

The moment I got off I decided my goal for the break was not to "have fun" and "relax" but to become completely rejuvenated.

I needed it, we needed it.

I joked and called it "Operation  Rejuvenation".

My goal was to clear my mind, have quality time with the Champ and myself, focus on the good and get rid of that "mindset" you know the downer, the one that is stressed, the one that thinks of the million things you have to do and doesn't let you just live happily in the moment? Yeah, that one. Adios!

Each day I made dinner. It was wonderful. One of my pet peeves is not eating healthy dinners when we work a lot. Truth is, it annoys me when we don't. Each night I made a healthy and delish meal for us.

I felt great because...
1. I was making something healthy for my family
2. I was proud of myself and kinda felt like a good awesome wife
3. We ate as a family. I realized when we pop something in last minute we typically don't eat together. He's in front of the computer and I'm in front of the TV. We both treat home cooked meals differently. They weren't "casual" nor did we go our separate ways, we enjoyed the meal together.

Since the tendonitis, I haven't been running.

Although I have experimented and enjoyed other workouts nothing is quite the same as running. I decided to make my runs more "causal."  I knew I had to build my mileage back up but honestly when your doctor says start out slow that's a subjective answer to a marathoner. Knowing I didn't want to injure myself  and knowing it was time to start back, I decided to take it really easy. Every other day I ran 2 miles. It honestly takes me about 3 miles to warm up and get in my groove. But not running for sometime I just felt everything loosen up fast.

Running a "short distance" was nice because although I crave distance you do have to devote a chunk of time if you run anything more then 6 miles (at my pace at least). So two miles was perfect. It was so much easier to just put on a pair of shoes and run around the block. I am going to do this more often. Not every run has to be a training run...sometimes 20 minutes is all you need to clear your mind.

With work you dress professional, no statements and with running you dress for comfort. But what about "normal" days? Remember your teenage days? It would take me 5 minutes to just put on mascara. Every lash was perfect. I would paint my nails to match my outfit. I wore a facemask every night.

Well, no I didn't go to that extreme but reflecting on that time it was fun and I felt pretty.
No I didn't wear masks or paints my nails each day but I did experiment with new hairstyles.
You know the ones you pin on pinterest but never try?
Yep. I tried several.
Although they didn't turn out fabulous, I tried.
It felt nice to be feminine.
It felt nice to embrace a side that has been a bit neglected.

Neglect. I think that's a word to sum up stress. You neglect the wonderful life you have and focus on the bad. The past two weeks, Operation  Rejuvenation allowed me to push neglect aside to focus on the important things, to clear my mind, to be a better person, to be a better wife, and to be a better me.

I feel confident after this break that when I go back to work tomorrow I will be fresh, rejuvenated and ready to take on the world again.

Have you ever needed a break?
What do you do to clear your mind?
How do you change things up in times of stress?