Hello, hello!

I wish I had more hooking greetings like Arman.

I hope Monday treated you all well. It was actually kinda nice to get back into the swing of things, but I do miss my blog reading downtime. And my fuzzy blanket in the freezing morning.

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It was warm-ish yesterday, but the temps are dropping by, like, 40 degrees today. Ice day? I think yes.

Moves

Yesterday I headed to the gym to get some blood flowing to my cold muscles! I did a 20 minute incline walk and an arm workout that looked somewhat similar to this TRX one from last week. This time, I switched up some of the core moves and added some TRX bicep curls, which were a nice challenge considering I haven’t done a curl in forever. I also spent some time on this contraption:

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Except I did NOT smile this much.

On this rope climbing machine, I did 6 minutes total, pulling down and pulling up on the rope every other minute. This is one of my favorite ways to work the whole upper body— it’s one of those things that you feel really cool doing, especially when you’re listening to intense music. Intense music being Starships by Nicki Minaj.

Lastly, a plank to finish! I had to switch from elbow to straight arm plank to fight for these 4 minutes.

Shouldersssssss.

Current Simple Joys

Yesterday, I passed by a poster that I used to love looking at in my freshman English teacher’s room that has a long list of simple pleasures in life that you can enjoy by yourself or share with others. I love that poster so much because I do believe that the simple joys of everyday life are what can bring the most fulfillment.

So in honor of that idea, I wanted to share some of the simple joys that I’ve noticed in my life lately. Please play along and list your current simple joys in the comments!

• Eating that perfectly ripened banana. Not too green, not too brown.
• Getting a good night’s rest.
• Sitting down for dinner with the family on a Monday night.
• Holding that plank.
• Getting up just a wee bit earlier to make a hot bowl of oats.
• That peanut butter melted in the center of the hot oats.
• Loving texts from mom and pop.
• Not having a lot of homework.
• A friend making that extra effort to help finish a project.
• Little dancers smiling and saying “hello!” and “thank you” after I assist their class.
• A really good sandwich for lunch.
• Fuzzy pajamas.

One other thing that I’d like to mention from yesterday is something that touched me deeply. A man named Mr. Halligan came to our school yesterday to talk about the story of his son, Ryan, who committed suicide in 2003 due to bullying and depression. His words broke my heart as they portrayed the agony and pain of the story, but they also showed hope, peace, and forgiveness. Some things that he said that really stuck with me:

• “You are loved more than you will ever imagine. Don’t you ever think for a second that no one cares about you or that they will not miss you.”
• “Forgiveness felt so much better.”

Mr. Halligan’s presentation definitely had a profound impact on some of the students in my school, including myself. He has been extremely courageous and generous in giving these presentations to many schools and on many shows, including Oprah. Please keep him, Ryan, and his family in your prayers. You can learn more here: Ryan’s Story.

I didn’t really want to end this on such a somber note, but just know that there can be so much positivity brought forth from this tragedy, as Mr. Halligan clearly displayed in his speech.

Have a lovely day, everyone 🙂

So tell me:

List some of your current simple joys!

Do you like planking?