I’ve had enough of the heat and humidity. I can’t wait for the temperature to cool down a bit. If it cools just a bit, it will be a barn burner. This is less oppressive than that hot as hades weather we’ve been experiencing. In fact, it’s been so hot that the water temperature off our shore has hit the century mark. This is a major problem for our corals. We literally need the water and the air to take a chill pill.

If I’m being honest, I’ve also had enough work for the week. I have to say I loved last week’s three-day workweek. I’m all about that life. This feeling is abundant this week since I volunteered to work Saturday. After all, I did miss a few days and would love to get caught up with some additional sales. Most Saturdays I spend in the kitchen baking things I shouldn’t eat while binge-watching Parks and Rec. Now I’ll just sell dental and vision insurance as I binge my favorite Saturday show.

One of the things I enjoyed most in Boston was the old architecture. I loved the gardens at Peacefield with the wrought iron fence. For the love of all things holy, my other work monitor just stopped working. Sweet mother of good this shit gets old. Now I’ll get to spend another day working with IT to get my laptop and peripherals working again. Fortunately, I watched IT Crowd, so I fixed it by turning it off and on again. Thank God it started working again.

What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

I loved today’s prompt because it’s super important to find health and wellness strategies that work for you. I’ve had to be very flexible with my expectations for myself post-Graves’ disease diagnosis. What was once possible doesn’t seem to be so possible anymore. This is to say, I have to be a lot more pragmatic and strategic in managing my wellness strategies.

The first of which is drinking enough water every day. I love drinking sparkling water, so this is a goal I never miss. Secondly, I practice good sleep hygiene. I follow the same routine every night and every morning. The consistency has helped tremendously. I also read nightly as part of my wind-down strategy. Third, I try to eat as naturally and seasonally as possible. In fact, I gave up all artificial sweeteners last year. In terms of eating seasonally, I try to eat fruits and vegetables when they’d naturally be in season. This, of course, is how I grew up eating. You couldn’t get blueberries and strawberries year-round then.

My exercise strategy shifts depending on where my Graves is at. I was running daily, but I ended up with shingles in January after a run. Consequently, I decided to mix up the routine and do something less taxing on my body. Since February, I’ve been spinning for 5-6 days as well. Apple Fitness + has great forty-five-minute cycling classes that are perfect for my lunch break. In addition to spin class, I’ve been doing Sweat’s HIIT workouts to build strength. Lastly, I’ve been doing Pilates or yoga six times a week. So far this workout strategy has been working really well. I’m going to add in some treadmill workouts though because I’m itching to run.

And lastly, here’s a brief Athena update. Unfortunately, she continues to deteriorate and difficult decisions have been made. We booked an appointment with the vet Tuesday to put her to sleep. This was the soonest they had available and it is important to us that our vet puts her to sleep. We don’t want to take her to a stranger or strange place. She loves the vet and will be comfortable and feel loved. Athena continues to eat and drink, which have always been two of her favorite hobbies. She enjoys eating chicken parm, donuts, and cheese.