Battling Insomnia While Fighting Off a Cold

So this title sums up how the last few days have gone. I get 6 hours of sleep then go to work and try not to notice the way my cold and fatigue are affecting my head. Thankfully, my shifts are pretty short (only five hours) but it always feels longer when you're tired the moment you arrive. Also, I'm glad I get Wednesday through Saturday off which should give me enough time to finish recuperating. Anyway, with any luck, by graduation day I'll have all the energy I could want.

Graduation

Well, I've been done with college for the last 5 months or so but because my school has only one graduation ceremony a year, I have yet to walk across the stage. That will be happening a week from today and I'm really excited for it. I'm hoping the cold I caught last week will be gone well before then so I can have the energy I'm used to having during work. Work has been making me tired really fast due to this cold. Weirdly, it wasn't all that long ago that I rarely caught things like this but it's been happening more often this year. Anyway, back to the topic of graduation...I get to share this great experience with my boyfriend of 7 months; we'll both be graduating together and our families are going to celebrate together. It will be the first time our two families meet and I can't wait for the occasion!

My Thoughts On the Purpose of Love

So, I know it's been a good long time since I've added a post. The reasons that come to mind are merely bad excuses but I'll say that I lost focus on the goals I had when I started this blog. Anyway, today I want to write about some thoughts that came to mind while meditating the last couple days and as you may have gleaned from the title, they have to do with love.

Something that's been stuck in my consciousness for years is that we're all here on a spiritual journey and today I figured out the importance love holds for all of us on this awesome journey. The reason we fall in love is because we recognize the person as someone who will inspire us to become better people. True love isn't going to be found in the person who doesn't want you to change but in the person who makes you want to change, who seems so wonderful you feel that you need to continually try to become the best version of yourself in order to deserve having them in your life.

As someone who is nearly 23 and yet pretty new to this relationship thing, it would help to hear others' thoughts on this. I've recognized over the time I've been with my current boyfriend, things I could work on in order to be better and have started making a conscious effort to do so for his sake and I'm hoping he does the same for me. We're both, in my mind, childish, impulsive people, and I sincerely hope we'll inspire each other to try to be less so.

Dreams and Running

So I've had a couple dreams about hiking the Appalachian Trail and I must say it's pretty cool that my subconscious is agreeing with my consciousness. Despite the super slow start, I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll reach my goal next year; I feel it's definitely supposed to happen and I'm looking forward to the biggest physical challenge I'll ever face.
I'm still running and meditating every day and am feeling more fit already. My legs, after a couple less strenuous days have lost their soreness which is such a relief. I've added yoga to my routine as well because it's beneficial to do after running especially when you're muscles are no longer in good shape. My plan is to work my way up to 5 miles and then when I can do that comfortably, I will try to do that twice a day. Right now, I can barely finish 2 miles before my legs start burning.

Physical Training Has Started

So I started running yesterday. Ran for 45 minutes and ended up super sore today but I went for a second run anyway. I ran half the distance and walked for half an hour afterward when, even after 20 minutes of yoga stretches the soreness was still quite problematic....let's just say stairs are really hard right now. When I finished my second hour long walk, I took an Epsom salts bath. Hopefully I'll see results tomorrow because I also tried a whole lot of other techniques to heal sore muscles such as vitamin B's and vitamin C, omega 3's, staying hydrated and green tea. Regardless, the physical training has begun and I won't stop running. I'm adding meditation and yoga to my daily activities to so I can stay focused both on my goal of the through-hike and on the day to day tasks I have.

The Show Must Go On!

So between work, relaunching my crowd-funding attempt, meeting someone interested in possibly hiking the Appalachian Trail next year and attempting to get better sleep, I've been distracted from this blog. It's still rather hard to think about what to write because things are only sort of happening. There are still too many maybes that have to be ironed out. I know I have a whole 12 months left to plan, but it's hard to believe it will happen without concrete evidence. I mean, after 21 days, I received 0 donations (which is why I felt the need to relaunch the crowd funding cite) and I still need to find someone to go with. Hopefully I'll see progress before too long because the slower this process is the more inclined I will be to quit; and I can't. I just can't. I'm not sure I can explain why, but I need this experience.

Choose Encouragement Over Pity

If you read yesterday's post, understand that I don't want anyone's pity. I spent over three years wallowing in self-pity and I learned it's absolutely pointless. People with stories like mine don't want to hear the word "sorry"; it just doesn't help. We need encouragement. I would want someone to say "I know you. You're going to get through this. I'm here to support you in whatever way I can. You're not to blame." Where I am now, I want to hear things like, "Yes! Yes! You did it! You came through to the other side! It seemed impossible, yet here you are!"
No pity parties! I refuse to attend! And I hope all of you avoid them as well.