Friday, March 12, 2010

Just Calm Yourself Down

Running tip: If you have tough running day, don't let it get the best of you. Don't let is psych you out. Be kind to yourself. Just know that you are strong, you can reach your goals. Just know that Lance Armstrong lost his nut, had a 40% chance of living, and could barely walk let alone ride a bike after his cancer diagnosis. He came back to win seven consecutive Tour de Frances. He also ran the NYC Marathon in 2:46. He may be a freak of nature, but he shows us the power of perseverance.


Here’s the thing. If your Garmin won’t turn on and you know it’s fully charged, don’t do what I did and throw it on the ground while cussing the Garmin gods and thinking, “How will I afford a new Garmin? I can’t afford a new Garmin! Shit, this Garmin is only a year old. How appropriate it would fall apart on its one year anniversary when the warranty just has expired. Motherf$cker ”

Especially don’t do this if you are at the track at your child’s middle school and you’re pretty sure the sixth grade class just watched you lose it in your black tights.

The reason you don’t have to do the above, is that you could just go home and Google, “Garmin 205 won’t turn on,” and you could find out that all you have to do is reset it by holding down the Mode and Reset buttons at the same time, then pressing the On button. I love the Internet. I would marry it if I could.

This is something I am working on. Not being so eff’ing reactive. Do you know what reactive means? It means that someone says something to you in a tone you don’t like or an old lady flips you off at a red light or you get a phone bill with charges that don’t belong to you and you LOSE your mind, immediately. Aren’t you supposed to count to ten or something before throwing a fit? I seem incapable of this. Some people like the Dalai Lama and yogis and Anderson Cooper seem to be able to hold their shit together at all possible moments. Maybe if Gloria Vanderbilt was my mom, I could too.

I am making a promise. A promise to work on being less reactive:

Re.ac.tive: Tending to be responsive or to react to a stimulus

I am going to stop reacting to stimuli. Stimuli that annoys me. Stimuli that I cannot control until I get home and Google things. Stimuli that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Stimuli that I won’t be able to recall tomorrow morning much less a year from now.

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it” - Charles R. Swindoll

“Adversity is a fact of life. It can't be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.”

“From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.” - Anais Nin

I will let you know how it goes.

I guess am giving up reacting to stimuli for Lent. Yes, I’m late. No, I’m not Catholic. I’m just trying to fit in.

How are your Lent deprivations, New Year's resolutions, or promises to yourself going?

Drinking: Kirkland brand coffee brewed by Starbucks

45 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. I will be more accepting of my "bad" runs because of this post!

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  2. Great quotes! and Loved the running tip. I'm running my 1st 1/2 marathon this weekend and all I have to do is remember good 'ol Lance and his one nut.

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  3. I am not Catholic either, but I gave up Facebook, TV, cell phone email and texting, and my scale for Lent and added 7 books. I am doing very well on the first 4, but not so much on the reading.... spending too much time in bloggyland.

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  4. Lance Armstrong is also a dick...

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  5. I love your random running tips feature!

    I'm glad you were able to sort out the Garmin nonsense!

    Have a good weekend and good luck on your being reactive issues... :)

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  6. Loved this post - as I'm running my first ultra (50k) tomorrow. Yikes!

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  7. Yeah, I'm not Catholic either, but I like the idea of Lent...not sure why. I guess its some of my jack-mormon-ness bubbling to the surface. I need occasional repression...who knew?

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  8. I'm very reactive too. I like that term. It's better than when I call myself crazy.

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  9. I'm doing good on the sugar, girl - you'd be so proud of me!! I'm a reactor, too. I'm sorry but that's just how it is. I do spend way too much time on Google and curse it many days :/. Have a great weekend (are you doing the Running of the Green, by chance??)

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  10. I'm the exact same way. I blame it on the fact that I am passionate. It's good when I'm immediately passionate about something in a good way, but look off if it's the other.

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  11. Oh, I've been there with the Garmin, luckily at home and near a computer. I am not a reactive person now, but I had to work on myself a lot for that. Running certainly helped with that.

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  12. Love the Lance reference, and the reaction quotes. I'm a fan of quotes for some reason. And also the internet. I saved my husband's cell phone after accidentally washing it last weekend, by googling how to dry it out properly. I think everything is online these days.

    Good luck with the non-reaction. ;)

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  13. I had my Garmin do that right before a race and I almost shit a brick. I thought it was my iron mental powers that fixed it, though. good to know.

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  14. I'm all about over-reacting. I am the guy who stomps and swears at his Forerunner 201 when it won't turn on. I did hit it against the car to make it work.

    I gave up candy and sweets (except chocolate) for lent.

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  15. Thanks for the tip! My Garmin 405 twice has froze when I'm out running (or right before I run). I just suck it up and run without it on. I googled "Garmin 405 is frozen" and found some ideas to get it to kick back on (I generally would just not plug it in and wait for the battery to die).

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  16. I hate when my Garmin isn't working! I gave up sweets for Lent which is basically torture, especially during marathon training when I'm burning enough calories so that I can enjoy guilt free. You better believe that on Easter Sunday, which is the day after my last long run before the race, I'm going to eat anything and everything sweet I can find.

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  18. I really love all your posts (except for the ones that tell me I didn't win nothin!! :P) jk). I didn't make any new years resolutions-they break too easily; I gave up entering contests for Lent and that's goin alright (although I would have LOVED a bondiband that someone was giving away). The thing I'm doing best at is keeping the promises to myself. I promised myself that this is MY year, the year I put more focus on my health & mental/emotional well being. It may seem selfish to some but no one can help me truly be happier and healthier but me....

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  19. Thanks for sharing Anais Nin quote. She is a favorite.

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  20. Hahahaha! Your post was funny YET a really good reminder of how to act in certain situations. That Swindoll quote is something that I've always tried to live by, it's a good one.

    Don't worry about the 6th graders, they had a lesson in "how life is really hard when you grow up" today. :)

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  21. The first time this happened to me, I had a full on freak-out. It still happens occasionally... freakin' Garmin. *grumble* At least it's an easy fix. But I think I took years off my life in that moment of panic!

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  22. amen to that quote! i have the hardest time shaking off a bad run and am very reactive too. i also hate technology and since technology NEVER works the way it's suppose to i go crazy all the time...er reactive :)

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  23. I will remember the "one nut" Lance has to work with. Thanks Beth. You never cease to inspire or make me laugh.

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  24. My Garmin pulled that horse dung 2 days before the Chicago Marathon. I ended up sending it back to the mfr and getting another.
    No deprivations, no resolutions, I'm just a lawless glutton.

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  25. That's good information to know... regarding the garmin! Goodluck cutting back on being reactive!

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  26. Did you know that Garmin also has a zillion videos of how to hook up the HR monitor and how to get it to do all the crazy stuff you need it to do? The only problem is...it only goes nutso when we're out running and then it's TOO late!!! Good luck being non-reactive...really, good luck...that's so hard!

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  27. Anger Management also helps. I find it is better if you do this voluntarily vs. being court ordered, but that's just me.

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  28. I needed this post tonight. Thank you!

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  29. Agreed, working on patience and just going with the flow has certainly reduced my stress

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  30. Just wanted to tell you that I recently found your blog and LOVE your outlook and sense of humor!

    I am a "recovering Catholic" but gave up chocolate (not all other sweets, though) for Lent. I'm too stubborn to give in but I look forward to the box of thin mints that I put in the freezer just before Lent began!

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  31. ha ha ha! I love that im not the only runner that gets pissed off and wants to stomp on my garmin! :) glad your baby is okay and is back working properly!

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  32. I am still laughing picturing you throwing down your Garmin in front of the kids. :) I once yelled "Screw you lady" to someone in front of my little kids...I guess I am reactive too.

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  33. Google is awesome. A few days ago, a co-worker and I were each working at a computer and I asked her what some acronym was. She had no idea and admitted that she was bad at them. I said I was too and, then, told her that I usually just google them to find out what they mean.

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  34. You need a smartphone so I you can google with you 24/7! It would be as close to being married to it as you're gonna get. GL with being nonreactive.

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  35. I think you wrote this just for me! I totally need to be less re.act.ive! Great post.

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  36. Not reacting to stimuli is the definition of: dead.

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  37. I am the exact same way! But I blame it on the fact that I have red hair :)
    Sometimes it just feels good to let it all out then you can move on. Maybe not the most healthy therapy but it's worked for 30 years :)
    Haven't had that happen yet with my Garmin - crossing my fingers!

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  38. my 405 did the same thing a few months ago and I reacted the same way - yet it wad 6am in my apartment before work. ...sadly I was late to work because I was too busy googling how to fix the damn thing!! you are not alone!

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  39. Maybe, Garmin can figure out how to make their products not do this anymore! Then, you would not have the stimuli to react to.
    I think it's difficult for some of us not to be reactive. I certainly don't know how to be cool all the time, but I have gotten calmer as I've aged. I think I just don't have enough energy to spare. :) Good luck!

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  40. Reactive, is that what I am ? Now I have a diagnosis. I'll need to work on that too.

    I didn't give anything up for lent and I made no New Years resolutions. Just the goal to run 2010+ miles this year and that is going fine. I wanted to do an ultra and did that. So now I'm looking at more ultras and a 50 miler this fall. But those are just things I'd like to do not really resolutions.

    I should really work on the not freaking out so easily! My family would LOVE if that were a resolution.

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  41. Don't feel too bad. I'm REACTIVE as well. I try to control it but sometimes, you say "oh heck" and let everyone and thing just have it. Not good but they say it's unhealthy to keep it inside. Maybe you and me, we're just healthy?! :)

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  42. I feel that...stimuli can be so disruptive in how it can "tease us" into response...good luck with your new Lent committment....

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  43. I sure as hell hope you apologized to your garmin! how dare you treat it like that! unless you were trying to break it so you could upgrade to a newer model, in which case, well played...

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  44. I suppose I could be less reactive and it would get me much further in life. :)

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