Tuesday, September 16, 2014

whole30 bonding experience on day 4

WOD:  10 strict press
             200 m sprint
             15 push press
             200 m sprint
             20 push jerks
             200 m sprint
            EOM: 5 strict pull ups/ 10 push ups


I am excited to hear others share their success with the Whole 30 challenge! All of the ideas, suggestions, tips are wonderful. I am trying everything and soaking it all in. It's fun to learn more about something new!

This morning was a bit of a challenge. In every effort to find the positive, I will share what happened. Josalyn had a doctor's appointment at 9:15am. Without hesitation, I accepted the request to help with this appointment. I have no problem with that. I blocked off my calendar until 10:30, giving my plenty of time to get her back to school and myself to work (26 miles away) and still have a productive day.

10:15 rolls around...we are still sitting there. Finally, we go back to the room. The nurse is annoyed by the doctor's tardiness and felt obligated to share her frustration with us. This only my my mood even worse. Then, the doctor came in and was all perky. No apology. No acknowledgement that she had wasted our time. NOTHING.

[Side note: When Connor was maybe 4 weeks old, I had a breakdown at his doctor's office. Like, real breakdown. I was tired of waiting, I was sleep deprived, I was stressed, I was doing everything wrong, etc.  After I screamed and went nuts, I vowed I was never going back there again. Eight years later, Connor is now friends with the doctor's son. Fail. Hopefully she doesn't remember. I wasn't going to do this to Josalyn. At 13 years old, it might make somewhat of an impression. So, I decided to be patient, remain calm and keep my comments to myself. I didn't say a single curse word (out loud).]

But, the sweetest thing occurred during those 80 minutes. A friend loaned me a copy of her book, "It Starts with Food" that I downloaded on my kindle while waiting. Josalyn and I hoovered over my iPhone and began reading the book. We read to Chapter 3. The beginning was a bit dry but it had a lot of good points and laid the groundwork for the scientific research about the Whole 30. Josalyn was asking a bunch of questions and was more excited to jump on board. We talked about the food that she eats, how it is prepared, what better choices would be, etc. All of which, she has very little control over. I mean, what 13 year old asks if her food is prepared with vegetable oil or olive oil? We talked about the foods that the boys eat and what she eats at our house. At their ages and as active as they are, it's okay to have some of the things that I my chose to limit. I don't want to ban "bad" food because I want to help them learn how to make healthy choices.

In the introduction, the book claims that after we are finished reading we will "know in no uncertain terms which foods are improving the quality of your life and which are distracting your health." So, I pointed that out. And Josalyn said, "Jenn, you eat perfect all the time. You always have a Paelo-perfect meal." I explained to her that the Whole 30 isn't exactly what she needs to follow but she could read the book and take away some key points and try different things for awhile such as cutting out dairy. It's more about being aware. Even if you don't take action right away, the more you know the better choices you will make without even realizing it. She told me I was perfect. I had the perfect body and it was awesome that I did the things I do (I'm assuming she's talking about Crossfit here).

It was kind. It was the nicest, most innocent compliment I have ever received. The truth is, I don't eat perfect meals, I don't have a perfect body, I do do awesome things :) but I always see the gap which I refer to as my "improvement zone"- but to a 13 year old girl, who shows nothing but unconditional love, I am perfect. I hope she looks up to me. I hope that I can continue to be a female figure in her life that she admires and respects. I hope that I can be a positive role model.

On the drive to work, I stopped for a moment to thank God for giving me those 80 minutes with Josalyn. 

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