#1 Stress Reliever

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The #1 Stress Reliever in life is being good at what you do.

I heard this statement expressed last Thursday at a GMA (Greensboro Merchants Association) event I attended. The keynote speaker was Tim Gard, a professional comic and speaker who delivered a presentation on reducing stress in the workplace by developing a comic vision.  

I'm in complete agreement with the sentiment.  I find I'm most stressed when I've branched myself out into areas where I'm not quite sure what I'm doing.  Having a full workload but knowing that you know how to accomplish all that's on your plate isn't anywhere near as stressful as a smaller workload where you feel like you're clearing a new path through the woods.

For example, last year when I was working on the text for my new cat book (details on that to follow soon), I was a basket case. How should I organize it? I didn't know. How should I pair the text with the pictures and illustrations? I didn't know. How should I...

There were a million questions and no clear answers. I was a ball of tension. I didn't just want to do the work. I wanted to do it right. If a similar project came along, I might still tense up on time frame, but the looming stress of the unknown would be gone.

I wonder how many people feel they are good at what they do? I would suspect most, but then why is there so much stress in the workplace? Is it because people are constantly being asked to learn new things? Seems like that's dependant on the job. Or is maybe feeling we have to prove to others that we know what we're doing?

Regardless, I found it an interesting tidbit to pass on to you.

Runner's Update: I thought I had really hurt my left knee. Was in a lot of pain on Saturday and it kept me up most of the night. But the kinks seemed to work themselves out on Sunday and now it feels fine. My back still aches though. It feels like someone took a bat to my lower ribs and shoulder blades. I skipped yoga this morning for fear of re-injury. May try an easy 3-mile jog tomorrow and see how that feels. 

Please Send Drugs

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Ow.

Ow.

Ow.

Today should mark a triumph in my life but I'm in too much pain to enjoy it. Almost. Today, for the first time ever, I ran 10 miles.  That is the good news.

The bad news is that...ow...I hurt. Everywhere. My knees hurt, between my shoulder blades hurt, my butt hurts.  I am going to make the Advil company rich if I keep popping the tiny brown pills at the rate I have been for the past 3 hours.

My neighbor Royce and I drove into Greensboro and had a beautiful run in and around Battleground Park. We ran the first 6 miles at a 9:15 pace and finished the ten miles at a 9:30 pace.  Pretty good for a newbie like me.  I was REALLY tired by mile 9. I almost stopped, but ego intervened. I wanted to be able to tell people I'd run 10 miles. "I ran 9 and three-quarters," just doesn't sound as good. So I huffed and puffed and informed my knees they would just have to suck it up for the last quarter mile. I was never so grateful to stop running.

Now I've got to do that plus 3.1 more miles for the actual race! I'm going to run 11 miles some weekend in November and see how that goes.  I think I'll feel better if I start out slower. We started at what was probably a 9-minute pace. That's okay to run 5-6 miles but I lost energy near the end because I went too fast in the beginning.

I'm heading into Greensboro tonight for a dinner. Looking forward to the company but not the drive in. My plans for the day are shot. I had a list of things to do but I got home from running, showered, and went back to bed.  I may drag my weak and feeble body into the family room to watch TV but that's about as high as my goals extend for the day.

YIPPEE!!! I DID IT!!!!  (Ow, ow, ow...) 

Lonely? Open A Dog Book in Public...

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My writing buddy Bernie is out of town for the week so today in place of our meeting I went to Barnes & Nobles to conduct research for a new project.

 It's a dog project where I need to research different breeds and write...stuff. (Sorry, confidentiality agreement).  But the important part is I have to select a certain combination of breeds. So I pulled out "The Encyclopedia of the Dog" and several breed specific books, grabbed a mocha (mmm... mocha) and planted myself at a table in the Barnes & Noble cafe.

People kept slowing as they passed by my table. The books were big ones and big glossy pictures of different breeds were spread across the table as I scribbled in a notebook. After about 2 passes, people would stop to ask what I was doing. When I mentioned it was a dog-writing related project, most were eager to recommend their breed.  One man stopped by and asked if I was researching what sort of dog I wanted. He seemed disappointed that it was merely an assignment. But he cheered up and told me why Dobermans or Irish Setters would be an excellent choice for my piece.

I'm telling you--there is NO better ice-breaker than a discussion about pets. I had some short but really nice conversations today. When I packed up and left, half of the cafe waved goodbye to me.

Some days I just can't help but think... I have the coolest job.