8 Fears...

Wahhh this is such a tough one! I guess that's what they mean by "10 Day You Challenge..." 

1. Lack of success. Fear number one is definitely that I won't live up to my full potential, that I won't be the best I can be, that I won't make everyone proud, etc. It's so important to me to work hard and reach my goals... and I have a long ways to go!

2. Not appreciating each moment enough. My semester in Luxembourg really taught me how fast time goes by, and how if you stop paying attention for a single moment, you can lose out on great memories. It made me really contemplate how much we constantly are looking forward to the next thing, the next event, the next goal. Now I think it's extra important to value each moment in each day, rather than constantly look forward. Otherwise time passes too quickly you might lose out on memories or experiences.

3. Losing someone I love. Doesn't everyone fear this? One of the worst things I can imagine is losing one of my family members, Alex, or one of my dear friends. These people mean so much to me, I can't even imagine the thought of losing them.

4. Falling. Since I was very little, I've had a constant recurring nightmare that I'm falling from a scaffolded platform. Weird dream, and not sure why I have it, but I definitely fear falling because of it. I'll hang glide and rock climb to extreme heights, but this is the one reason that I'm not sure sure if I would love skydiving. I would totally do it, but not sure if it's my thing. That's also why I'm not the biggest fan of that drop feeling on roller coasters :)

5. Driving/Car accidents. This is something I'm really trying to work on, but I really really do not love to drive. I'm constantly worried about spontaneously losing control of the car and just crashing, etc. There's a lot of reasons in my life that I should be more comfortable driving, so this is something that I definitely need to conquer!

6. Bees. Never been stung and I'm terrified that I'm actually deathly allergic!

7. Raising children. This is probably something that many people find very daunting! I feel like parenting is the #1 toughest job in the world, and it's filled with unpredictability. I'm not sure if I'll ever have children but if/when I do, this is something that I know I'll be very nervous about!

8. Walking places alone in the dark. I'm not sure if Alex's worries and constant warnings have conditioned me to fear this, but I get really scared walking to my car or from somewhere after dark - even if it's just at the grocery store or something! I really like to be escorted when it's dark out, I'm always worried some bad guy is going to come get me (even sometimes when it's not even dark out!).
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I've been so focused on the "You Challenge," I haven't posted much else lately. I've been at work the last few days. On both Tuesday and Wednesday I did 3-mile easy runs (to recover from Monday) with rowing (on the erg!) after. I've definitely go to do a rowing-only workout one of these days... got to figure out where I'm at! My upper body was nothing special before Europe, but being away from the erg for all those months definitely contributed to some deterioration.

Today I drove back out to the Metro Parks and did 6 lovely miles out there. At first I was nervous about my safety out there, and I carried my phone in my flip band (which is always a good idea, in case I fall and get hurt which is far more likely than me finding myself in a sketchy situation). I also wore my trusty Road ID with my Garmin.

 My nerves were quickly eased when I saw that 90% of the runners/walkers out there were single women!  Still always a good idea to have my phone of course, but I felt much more at ease. I think my biggest danger today were the bugs that were zooming around or dangling out of the trees! I definitely feel safer now running the trails and I'm excited to lots of long runs there. It's kind of expensive in gas to drive out too much, but hopefully once a week or every two weeks I can run out there :)

After running I stopped at Trader Joe's and a couple other errands and then headed home to do 8-minute arms and 8-minute abs.

Before ending today, I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Alex who is far away for his internship right now. Everyone send him happy birthday thoughts :) (Sorry for the pic, it's the closest thing to finding one where you're eating a cupcake!)