A Day of Small Wins

I did some hard stuff today, so I think it’s time to celebrate!

I ordered an Uber today for the first time in my life. Screwed it up royally. But at least I learnt from it and met a really cool American guy that I hope to ride with again one day. He gained a free $20 from me, but it was nothing compared to the pride I felt in myself at having to muster the courage to talk to someone I’d never met, and explain I’d booked the Uber by mistake. Go me!

Another bitter-sweet win for me today was making it to the airport to see my friend Jeremy back off to Melbourne. Last time he left, I missed his flight and I’ve never quite been forgiven for it. So, it was important to me that I make this one. Important enough that I was too anxious to eat breakfast this morning and felt nauseated an hour before it was time to head off. But I overcame and did the thing I set out to do. And that’s still worth a win.

Two hours later, I was keeping my word to Kyle by joining him at gym in place of Taekwondo during the holidays. Trips to the gym are generally… not successful, but I hoped that with the added distraction of my mate Lee there, I’d be able to avoid the tears for once. My AFL Power tank served me well and filled me with an air of “I think I look awesome” that held out for my entire session. This is the kind of thing that goes down in my notebook as something like “when going to the gym, make sure you look awesome”. It’s a lifesaver.
During deadlifts, I was able to see in the mirror that my entire left leg has a hard time dealing with any kind of stress or stability I push onto it. Meaning, I have a pretty clear goal set for myself right there. If I can stop it from buckling during exercises these holidays, I’ll be like a stoked kid with cake.

With legs like jelly, we made our way home for a cooking lesson with Kyle. Since work has been so unbelievably hard for him these last three weeks, I challenged him to think of ways I could take the burden off his daily activities. The one and only thing that could make a difference? Cooking dinner. The only activity that crumples my confidence even more than going to the gym. Thankfully, I only cried once, and it wasn’t for very long as Kyle enveloped me into a big hug and showered me with encouraging words. And now that my stomach is full, I can proudly say that I learnt quite a lot and won myself a few life lessons from Kyle about failing in things we’re not good at. I don’t know how I got so lucky.

So now, I present you with the photo Kyle took of me post-gym session while I was cleaning the kitchen before my cooking lesson. That’s my “watcha doin’?” face.