Wow guys. It has been a week. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been one of those amazing weeks. Intsead, it’s been a week that has made me wish I could just get a “do-over” or just put it to bed. Since we landed on Monday at 7 AM, I’ve been in quite the funk. Yesterday, when I woke up, I was growing especially frustrated with the bad mood. I actually felt as if I was in one of those cartoons with the storm cloud, or maybe snow cloud, hanging over my head. Luckily, while I couldn’t necessarily put my finger on what was causing this feeling, fortunately, both Bo and my mom were quickly able to pinpoint a few reasons why I’m feeling especially stressed, grumpy and overall moody.
- Day light savings
- Jet lag
- Post-vacation blues
- Going from sunshine and 75 degrees to overcast and 20 degrees
- Snow and ice that kept me inside for 36 hours
- Losing power in our house yesterday at 10 AM
Even though I’d tried a few different tactics to improve my mood, early this morning I reached a breaking point. Our power was STILL not on when we came home at 8pm so instead of cooking a delicious, healthy dinner we walked down the block and enjoyed a random Wednesday date night versus sitting at home in the dark. Then, we had great preparation for life with a newborn as we were both up during the night working with the power company as they needed access to our basement. This morning when we both woke up, feeling like zombies, we laughed and said that waking up at 11:30, 1:30 and 4:30 basically replicated life with a newborn. 
I decided that three days of funk was enough and it was time to kick it to the curve. In typical Ashley fashion, I did some research, brainstormed and then put together an action plan to help turn things around today.
Started the morning with warm lemon water
- Ate a healthy, protein and carb balanced breakfast
- Took a 30-minute break to run errands which involved a sunshine-filled walk outside
- Ate a healthy lunch that included a few of the items from this list of 11 foods to eat if you’re tired
- Opened the shades at my desk to let in natural light
- Scheduled an evening workout class
- Prepared the ingredients for a healthy, dinner so we would have no excuses this evening
I’m not sure whether it’s a combination of all of the above, sharing my thoughts or the bright sun shining through my windows but I feel 100 times better right now than I did at 7:30 this morning.
I contemplated not sharing this with you guys because overall, it feels like I’m venting. But, I believe that it’s important to keep things real with you all across all my social platforms. Sunny, pretty pictures are nice but I don’t live a filtered life and never want to lead anyone to believe that everything is always sunshine and travel.
I have a lot to get done today as tomorrow I head to New Mexico for the annual Brooks Blogger Ambassador trip. I wasn’t able to make last Summer’s trip so am especially excited to meet some of the ambassadors for the first time, catch up with old friends and get inspired by the Brooks Beasts running team. We are spending Friday and Saturday in Albequerque at the Brooks Altitude Training Camp. While I don’t feel like quite the runner these days, thanks to my growing baby bump, I’m excited to enjoy warm weather and sunshine with the group as well as learn some things from the elites and their trainers.
I hope you guys are having a great Thursday! I’ll check in tomorrow from the plane to share this week’s Friday Favorites!
Glad you feel better Ashley! I personally avoid Red Eyes like the plague! Unless you are a really effective airplane seat sleeper (and a flight from the West Coast really isn’t long enough to get a good night’s sleep even if you are!), it can mess you up for days. Last time I took a RE from Seattle, I ended up sobbing in the Ladies room at work that day for NO good reason…just moody exhaustion. To me it’s not worth the money savings or the extra day of vacation anymore! Rest, eat well, drink tons of healthy liquids in these later months of carrying that precious little one!
Haha that sounds like me last week Lynne! Thanks for the advice and for making me feel a bit more normal. I’m SO glad that travel is done now! 🙂
it happens to ALL of us. i’m glad you’re feeling better!!!!
have a fab trip.
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Thanks Nicole!!
Both of your pictures above just made me laugh out loud, haha! It’s true though, you can’t prepare for the lack of sleep with a baby. Glad you’re feeling better.
I slept awful during my third trimester and joked it was training. I was right!
Oh gosh hopefully I don’t sleep horribly the entire rest of pregnancy!
Thank you for sharing. It’s these kind of posts that I love the most. Always sunshine and rainbows can be boring. We all know that life is much more colourful than that, but it takes more courage to admit and kerp going when we’re feeling low.
I think taking care of your nutrition and making sure that you get enough rest is the best thing you can do. Hope you’re getting better soon.
Thank you Sabine!