5:40 am — Alarm goes off. Eye mask comes off (or I struggle to find it lost in the covers somewhere). CHUG a whole bottle full of water. Roll outta bed and say a quick morning offering prayer: “Here I am, Lord; I come to do Your will. O Blessed Mother, I consecrate myself to you; please make me an instrument of your love and peace.”

5:42 am — Use the bathroom. Not gonna lie, I chug that water so I can have a consistent morning poop. Also brush teeth, put in contacts, a little makeup to look not-dead.

6:00 am — Eat breakfast. Sometimes my stomach is not really ready for breakfast at this hour of the day, but I kinda don’t have a choice because there is no break from 7am-12pm at my clinical currently, and I’m not the kind of person, especially doing physical therapy as my job, who can fast until noon before eating.

Breakfast is typically (still) overnight oats or a yogurt bowl during work days. Something I can prep the night before, and of course, something I love (i.e. peanut butter and banana).

6:25 am — Leave for work. One of my roommates has a car, so whenever her work days line up with mine, she very kindly drives me to work. Otherwise, I’ll take public transit, which actually only takes 15 minutes max from my door to the office!

6:50 am — Arrive at work. Definitely pee. Definitely chug more water.

7:00 am — Start chart reviewing and off we go to work!

12:00 pm — Luuuuuuunch. Truly a glorious time of the day. I am grateful to say that I am really loving working in acute care PT right now, but MAN am I ready for lunch when it rolls around.

We (the other students from BU and I) all pretty much have the same lunch time, so we like to meet outside in the hospital courtyard if it’s nice out to get some much needed fresh air and sun. Us, all the other employees, and all the summer bugs. Ah yes.

^^This was my lunch all last week and it was GREAT. I completely made it up on the spot: Brown rice (cooked in chicken broth — do it) with sautéed onion, carrots, yellow squash, black beans, and peas with cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper…and some KETCHUP (rationale: didn’t have tomato paste but wanted it to be more taco-y). With cheese on top. Don’t hate me; I promise it was delicious.

This was also fantastic: bone-in pork chop (that I cut off the bone and into pieces) with brown rice and sautéed carrots and onions with soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and turmeric.

Main dish is usually followed up by some fresh fruit (peaches, strawberries and green grapes have been delightful) and some nut/dried fruit mix. I try to make lunch filling because there’s no break again til I’m done with work at 4:30 and usually not until after I go to the gym.

Sometimes I have hot chocolate from the office as an afternoon pick-me-up too 🙂

4:30 pm — All done with work for the day (some days it’s 3:30 or 4). Walk to the gym.

4:45 pm — Move and groove, baby.  Some days it’s a 20 minute HIIT workout, some days it’s mostly strength, some days it’s cardio. Whatever floats the boat that day.

I’ve been trying to lift heavier again, and I did 3 reps of 205# hex bar deadlifts last week! But the workouts that still make me happiest are HIIT workouts like this one:

5 rounds (30 sec on/10 sec off):

• American (overhead) KB swings (35#)
• Pushup with knee drive
• Goblet squats (35#)
• Single leg jackknives
• Burpees
• Side jump lunges

I sweated at least 1 gallon of fluid in this STL humidity.

5:45 pm — Here’s where the schedule varies a little bit. Some days I’ll go straight home, but on Thursdays there’s a young adult group at church that Janice and I like to attend, where they serve dinner followed by Adoration/confession. It is so wonderful!

6:30 pm — Let’s say I went home this day. I usually snack on some veggies before eating this basically every night because it’s an easy classic that never lets me down.

Post dinner snack has been cereal of a peanut butter variety. For a while it was “PB&J Discs” from Whole Foods, but now I’ve moved onto Panda Puffs 😀

8:00 pm — Pray. I have been trying to stay committed and disciplined with 20 minutes of silent prayer every day, because I lost that habit for a bit, but I don’t want that. Intentional time with God is absolutely necessary, and I can tell when it’s lacking.

8:30 pm — Maybe FaceTime a friend. Maybe talk to the roommates. Maybe derp around on social media. Definitely pack food for the next day.

9:30 pm — Shower. Brush teeth. Set out clothes for the next day.

10:00 pm (ideally, but usually later) — Sleeps time. Janice offered to tuck me in one night and now she does it for me whenever I sleep before her LOL. It’s cute.

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That’s all she wrote! I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in STL so far. Having close friends with me in the same clinical has been a blessing, and having a young adult group at church has also been wonderful. The relative routine has been nice, but my friends keep me from being cooped up when I’m tired and help me try new things and motivate me in the gym, so that is A+.

So tell me: What does a “normal” day look like for you?