“Remoted” – Workday 126 / Day 184 (Wednesday)

The day’s calendar had three hours of training and wellness programs that I voluntarily registered for prior to the current over-abundance of the to-do list. For two hours I learned about group dynamics with introverts and extroverts on teams. A short time later, it was an hour-long webinar about coping with stress. One coping method is to avoid exposure to what triggers the stress, and take control with actions including taking a walk. Outside of the learning, there was a lot of fail that happened today. The work to-do list encountered some detours and bumps. 

Puzzle progress.

Later, the after-work walk didn’t happen. The pedometer that arrived on Tuesday was used for one long walk, but that wasn’t quite exciting enough to motivate today. There were multiple lame-ass excuses. It was very breezy and I don’t like wind blowing on me. The light was fading fast and the puzzle building goes better in natural light, especially when adhering to the "no looking at the picture" rule. I was already cranky, cold, and have a newly runny nose (crap, I hope it’s allergies). My shins are sore from the previous two evenings of walks.

Perhaps the final nail in the coffin – I prefer having a destination when I walk. Walking around a neighborhood of primarily dead-end streets branching off a very busy road isn’t really that much fun. I'm not sure about dealing with stress, but it appears I have thoroughly mastered avoiding one of the things alleged to help avoid stress.

This walking challenge is going to be harder than I thought. Maybe I can get all the steps in on the weekend with some long hikes where there is actually a point – get to the top of the hill, then get back down, without becoming lost or breaking anything.

There were a few deliberate steps executed despite all the webinars, sitting, and avoiding taking a walk. While waiting for my black cherry tea to heat in the microwave, laps were walked around the kitchen table. The table is small, so I got a bit dizzy during the three full minutes of athletic activity. I was also eating cookies at the time. Those strawberry creme sandwich cookies from Family Dollar that cost $2.00 are really good. An early-to-bed night may be in order to hide from the cold and avoid eating more cookies.