You know that feeling on Sunday night… you just got everything “done” for the day and it’s the time of the evening when the check list is all checked and the only thing consuming your thoughts is your plan for the week ahead. You can picture Monday morning… what time you’re going to wake up… what work has in store for you… that appointment you have late morning… then you will call him and have lunch with her… then get ready for the meeting that you have around 2pm… and on and on until the sun has set and you’re back on the couch. When you live behind these walls… Monday looks a bit different as “lunch with her” is going to have to wait until the other side but thorough planning of your day ensues none the less. And then… Monday morning hits and every single one of your “plans” goes completely to sh*t because life decided to throw a different pitch and you’re left with a decision. Do you let this curve ball consume your thoughts and ruin your day or do you “choke up” track the ball and take a swing? We all know the right decision… easier said than done at times but eye on the ball and swing batter!
Okay… enough baseball noise… (sorry I watched Moneyball last night)… let me get to the point.
I had one of these “curveballs” (last time I promise)… this past week when I had the whole day/week planned… menu prepped… new recipes to dive into and then BAM!… boss walks into the OM as soon as we get to work and tells us that we are going to be closed for the week because they need to “re-wire” the dining room. Now… for some… this news would be fantastic. A whole week with no work… awesome! But for me… this takes my “plan” and my moderately ‘OCD’ scheduling for every hour of my day and throws it all right out the window leaving me with many hours of emptiness and the ever feared ‘boredom bandit’ lurking in the shadows. So, initially… I was extremely thrown off by this news.
I left the kitchen and went back to the unit to change and figure out what the hell I was going to do for the next 12 hours. As I stood in my room and assumed the “thinking position”… aka elbows on my bunk… head slightly tilted upward and gazing intently at the white brick wall 3 feet in front of my face… I had an idea. When I was a kid… living in Florida… I would wake up during summer break… eat breakfast… call my best friend down the street… “Hey man. Can you play?”… “Yeah. Come over”… and head outside from that moment forward until the sun went down. I remember the feeling of adventure and exploration. Of competition and blissful exhaustion. And of joy… genuine… the kind only innocent children can feel… joy. In that moment… I decided that I was going to attempt to re-create this for the day and see what happened.
It was about 7:15am so I would need to wait until the 8am move to get outside but I put on my work out clothes… water bottle in hand and set out for the day. Over the course of the next 7 hours… I worked out on the weight pile… I grabbed a yoga mat and did a much overdue stretching session in the grass and the highlight of the day was rounding up a few of the homeboys… renting a basketball from rec and playing 3 on 3 to close out the afternoon. I don’t think I have shot a basketball… let alone actually played a game in years and it did not disappoint. The muscle memory came back as each shot left my hands… those little fast twitch muscles that you stop using as you get older started firing with each drive to the basket and for those few hours… I wasn’t here. I was playing ball with the guys at a park somewhere… and I was as close to “happy” as I could be given the circumstances.
I got back to the unit at yard recall… took a shower. And that feeling… complete physical exhaustion… that I had as night fell was incredible. I sat in my room and just laughed to myself at the day that I just experienced. A day that would most likely be completely un-realistic in the real world given… you know… responsibilities. But a day that was realistic in here… and a day that I genuinely enjoyed… and those are few and far between so I allowed myself to appreciate it.
I came away with the feeling of wanting to pat myself on the back a bit by not allowing that wrench that was thrown in my schedule at the beginning of the day to ruin the day. In fact… it was the best thing that could have happened. I think this is something that we can all use in our daily lives as we navigate our expectations and how these expectations impact our emotions throughout the day. It comes down to controlling the aspects of this life that we can control and doing our very best to release the reins on the seemingly ending aspects that we cannot. I have found that moments of peace… small moments of joy… the deep breaths and the weightlessness usually follows releasing an expectation. We are incredibly powerful in that way… to be able to consciously decide what we allow to alter our mood throughout the day. So… just like the ocean on the other side of my basketball court over here… go with the flow baby… and remember that all those “plans” are simply self made placeholders hiding what could be a pretty awesome day if we can just move them outta the way.
Stay Healthy. Stay Active. Get outside and play… you won’t regret it!