I have quite literally been feeling like Mother Nature and Mother Time have handed me three more hours in my days!!!! I have reminded myself of my deep love of evening sunset hikes and have been scheduling them in as if as important as a life saving doctor’s appointment.

I DO NOT cancel on myself!!!

You can find me hoofing up the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains, singing along to my favorite music (sometime I just hit shuffle on thousands of songs and let the playlist be totally random) sometimes with a bestie and sometimes solo. I loooooove a solo hike but I can also chat for hours on end with a close friend for miles and miles and never be done figuring “IT” all out. Feel me on this?

I have learned to schedule in the things that make me feel alive and full of joy NO MATTER WHAT. Often I have to set these things out five weeks, even six, but they are on my schedule, and I guard them like a hawk.

And guess what? I do all the other things too. Like the dishes and pay taxes and show up for work and carpool and flossing (sometimes). I even make my bed most days (and then one of my dogs unmakes it). Take out the trash. All the things... Probably one of the greatest lessons, despite whatever may be going on, of recent years (and what I talk about in class a lot) is that we get to choose how we feel.

WHAT?!!! WE GET TO CHOOSE HOW WE FEEL!!!

Cue some eye rolling. I probably would have years ago. But once I truly realized that if I don’t choose, I basically let some other person or circumstance decide for me, I was like, “HELL NO!!!! I am going to decide!!!”

I was actually just totally going off about this with an awesome check out woman at my local Ralph’s (no, it’s not always Erewhon or Whole Foods. A girl needs extra big rolls to toilet paper and who likes unnecessary trips to the market anyway?). She was declaring, “You know what? I have had a hard life. Shitty things happen. But I’m happy!!”

So I said, “So you are choosing to be happy, even though all the shitty things???!”

And she said said, “I sure am!!”

Then the construction guy in front of me in line high fived her because HER happiness always makes HIS day better.

And then WE ALL had a better day. Even though the shitty things. Which are still there.

So life happens. Sad things. Hard things. Stressful things. And we definitely don’t bypass that. We feel it all. We don’t avoid it. But what do we shine a light on? What do we lean into? A good friend (actually an awesome woman who gave me my very first class at Equinox years ago - thank you, Angela Leigh!!!) just recently said (okay, posted) something I love. She said (or maybe she was quoting someone else; you never really know these days on IG),

“Did you have a bad day?

Or did you experience 10-20 minutes of discomfort?

The discomfort became undisciplined thoughts.

Those thoughts became a bad vibe.

Come on you run this shit.”

I LOVE THIS!!!!!

We do run this shit!!!! At least our own shit.

We do get to decide whether those shitty or uncomfortable ten, twenty minutes, or even few hours get to determine the whole day or how we feel. You know the person (and maybe you have been the person; I know I have) when asked how you are begins the long list of all of the stressful hard things? The shitty things? Like they are a badge of honor!!!

There is no honor in choosing to suffer. There are no prizes for having the most stress.

So despite all the very real stressors, I am choosing to meet them head on with a GODDAMNED SMILE ON MY FACE because things can always get harder, shittier. And despite all the things, life is beautiful. And, for now, my people are safe. Our health is good. And everything beyond that is gravy. Or maybe salted caramel sauce. Cuz yum.

I love you.