Chapter 25, Lesson 1: Shit Happens.

Let me preface this post by saying, I am a person who thrives off of routine. Bless my mother for passing along her obsessive compulsive nature. It’s not that I have to have everything happen the same exact way every single day, but when I have a general routine, I have some control over how things are going to go. I know that I’m not missing anything.

I pretty much follow the same morning and evening routine every day down to my skincare routine before bed. If my routine is thrown off, I immediately get an irrational anxiety that since this routine is thrown off then my next habitual activity will be disrupted, and it just becomes a mess that’s not a mess, but it feels like a mess to me… lol. That makes sense, right?

With that in mind, this past week was a rough run for me. There wasn’t necessarily one monumental moment that made it a struggle bus kind of week, it was just an accumulation of little things that added up to it being a week that threw me a little bit off my rocker. Let me start from the beginning.

Sunday

Michigan Men’s Basketball lost to MSU…

In addition to the loss, there were also 50 mph winds blowing across the Mitten state. These obnoxiously strong winds prevented me from driving home that night after the game which had been my plan for weeks because I had a doctor’s appointment at 9 a.m. the next day in Kalamazoo.

(Sidenote: I know the U-M loss isn’t a bad thing for some of you. Anyway, the real tragedy of that game was how Caili and I looked in the half time 360 photo… lol)

Monday

I woke up with an awful cold. So, we’re already taking an L today.

Since I couldn’t drive back to BC the night before, I had to wake up early and gather the mountain of laundry I planned to do while I was home. Now, this already throws off my week because I usually work out first thing in the morning, but since I had to pack everything up and drive back to BC in an attempt to avoid the morning rush on I-94, I missed my work out.

Did I debate bringing home my gym bag in case I had time to run to the gym in BC? Sure did.

Did I bring my gym bag home? Sure didn’t.

Well, why not Hales? I’m glad you asked. This also happened to be my birthday week which meant my license expired on Tuesday. So, I didn’t think I’d have time for the gym because I planned to get it renewed in BC since I had the day off.

Now this is where Monday gets fun. When I got home from my doctor’s appointment, I quickly PUT ON A FULL FACE OF MAKEUP under the impression I’d be getting a new picture taken today because I wanted to upgrade my license to one of those “Real-IDs” that everyone needs by 2020. However, when I went to get “in line online,” I found that there was 114 people in line in front of me which meant it was a 5.5 hour wait…

Absolutely not. I’m not waiting 5.5 hours to get my license renewed and to all of you who are thinking “well, you can make appointments online!” I tried that and their next open date was March 4th.

So, now that I wasn’t getting my license renewed, guess what I had time to do before my hair appointment that afternoon? You’re correct, go to the gym…

To sum this day up, Monday was just annoying because it didn’t go the way I planned.

(Also, sidenote: I ended up renewing my license online because you can upgrade to the Real-ID at any time. :))

Tuesday

I’ll keep it quick on this one, but I was too sick to work out in the morning. The last game of the current season of my social volleyball league was that night, which I also had to skip because I was too sick.

If you can’t tell, I hate being sick. It’s such an inconvenience and you can’t push yourself through it or else you get more sick. It throws off your routine because you’re lethargic and hugging a box of tissues all day.

It left me feeling like a sick ball of lard because I wasn’t able to work out two days in a row.

Plus, a huge project I’ve been leading at work hit (another) big ol’ bump in the road. Mind you, this road has been about a year and a half and was supposed to end this week…

Moving on.

Wednesday - My Birthday!

That’s right! I celebrated my 25th lap around the sun on Wednesday. I was still sick though which meant I wasn’t able to go to the gym in the morning. Also was still stuck on the bump in that project from the day before.

(It’s weird how third-party vendors your company works with don’t mind delivering unfavorable news on your birthday???? Don’t they know? Isn’t that against some sort of work-ettiquette? )

Shout out to everyone who made this day pretty okay despite everything though. Especially, Caili and Carly. And, of course, my parents who sang Happy Birthday to me really loud and slightly off-key over the phone.

Cails is my work wife and dearest friend who had my birthday present picked out by the end of November… her birthday is in December lol. So, she already had my birthday present for the following year before she even celebrated her birthday for the current year. (Magical gift below.)

Caili is literally the best gift giver. Yes, that is a Pisces necklace and next to it is a Bob Ross mug that reveals a painting when you put hot liquids in it.

Carly is also one of my most wonderful friends and she nailed it with this freaking awesome baseball purse.

A purse perfect for Tigers games and for those times when you’re just feeling ~sporty~

Wednesday really wasn’t all that awful besides the hold-up on that project.

Thursday

Thursday is where my irrational anxiety comes into play. Woke up feeling better, but still not great enough to go to the gym before work. However, I could feel that this was the last day I would have to trade the gym for more sleep in order to fight off the cold. Friday would definitely be my first day back to the gym which would not only make me feel better, but also get me back to my normal routine.

Work on Thursday followed the same trend as the previous two days, but at least we had made some progress on it at this point.

Around 2 p.m. that afternoon, my friend Hanna Q won not only tickets to the U-M vs. Nebraska game that night, but A SUITE. A mother freakin’ suite at the Big House for tweeting about gluten free nachos. If that’s not the most Hanna thing that’s ever happened..

Anyway, as the sweet friend she is (pun intended), HQ invited me to join. What is the immediate reaction of any normal person who enjoys college basketball?

Yes.

What was mine?

If I go that means I won’t be able to go to bed early enough tonight to wake up early tomorrow to go to the gym, which was my plan because we are now on day four of not working out which is literally the longest I’ve gone in probably six months. Plus, I think I got sick at the U-M hockey game last Saturday because it’s a big space with a bunch of germs and I don’t want to get more sick, so maybe I shouldn’t go. At the same time though, I need to stop being lame and saying no thank you to these really cool opportunities because they don’t come up frequently. However, if i do go, then….etc. etc. etc.

That, ladies and gents, is how my brain works.

So what did I do? Well, first I texted my mom and, by texted, I mean blew up her phone lol. See below.

Bless my mother for understanding when I blow up her phone.

She always helps me sort out these thoughts that are fueled by my irrational anxiety that is stemmed from my routine-loving self. *insert eye roll emoji* It didn’t take long for my mom to do what all moms do and say the right thing which was:

“I think you need to just write off the whole week and commit to getting back into it this weekend. You are trying to juggle ALL worthy activities but SHIT HAPPENS.”

For those of you still reading at this point, thank you. I am pleased to report that I did, in fact, attend the game with HQ, her parents and a couple of our friends. I am also pleased to report that Michigan won that game. :)

Proof I made Zack and Cody proud living the suite life at the Big House.

Friday

Friday is the last day that contributed to this very long week. It also will be the shortest of this post.

Yet again, there were a few bumps in some projects that my team has been working hard on, but we made it through.

I didn’t get to work out again, but since it was Employee Appreciation Day, our boss bought us lunch, so that was a plus. I tried Bibimbap for the first time - it was good, but needed more sauce.

Week in Review

If there’s one lesson I learned this week, the first lesson learned as a fresh 25-year-old, it’s that I can’t control everything. Or, in the words of Susan, shit happens.

My routine was thrown off multiple times this week due to everything that was out of my control:

-Getting sick

-Long lines at the Secretary of State

-Vendors not doing their part in projects

-Hanna winning a suite due to her gluten intolerance lol

ETC.

So, if you’re a routine-lover like me and can relate to my irrational anxiety, this post was for you. Routines aren’t bad by any means. They provide consistency in our lives and keep our days moving at a comfortable pace. Sometimes they’re okay to be broken though. It’s okay to step out of your comfort zone when life doesn’t go the way you planned. You’re going to get through it, I promise. This week was so far out of my normal routine and it definitely threw me for a whirl, but yanno what? Today is Sunday. The start of an entirely new week. And, yanno what else? My happy ass is going to get back into my routine this week because that’s where I thrive and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But, if something does pop up again this week that interrupts my routine, I know it’s going to be okay. :)

Until next time, pz out.