Alyssa's Fitness Journey

Hello Readers, The past few weeks have been a bit busy. The 6 year old had a week of zoom school due to potential exposure and the baby is majorly teething…so work as been bananas. Outside of work I have been keeping busy. I auditioned for a show, got a callback…did not get cast. The first no of post pandemic audition life. I had my annual gyn exam…and that is leading to much more testing. I…

Now that I am fully vaccinated, I am getting back to doing more things IRL. The first thing on the list is to record a concert with New Choral Society in Scarsdale, NY this weekend. I will be 2 weeks out from dose 2, so I don’t have to get a covid swab before recording day. I am very happy to be done with mandatory covid swabs…they suck. The next thing on my IRL schedule is an in person auction…

I am officially vaccinated! On April 25 I will hit the 2 weeks post dose 2 mark. It feels good to be done getting shots for a while. I did have some side effects with both doses, but nothing super major or scary. I was VERY tired both times and spiked a super low fever, but felt totally normal after a few days. My arm was more sore after dose 1 than dose 2. The news about the J&J being pulled…

Today I got dose 2 of the Moderna vaccine. I had a bit of a reaction after the first one, so I will be taking the next few days off of work just in case. I am glad to have a few extra days off, as last week was spring break for the littles and it was a fun, but exhausting week. I am looking forward to being able to see more people face to face, without masks this summer. I miss seeing people…

Ramblings on Current Life

Last week I started a motivation makeover course, and I have been learning so much. I listened to one of the book recommendations last week and absolutely loved it. It’s called “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield. The main takeaway for me was that if I want to accomplish my artistic goals I need to be better about saying NO to extra tasks that don’t serve me well. For the past few years I have…

The other day when I was rocking the baby to sleep this little phrase popped into my head, and then the melody that I learned back in kindergarten. It means “give us peace” and this is something we can use right now. We are over a year into this global pandemic, and it seems like violence is spiking all over the place. It has always been there, but seems extra prevalent now that we are home more…

*Blink* its March 17, 2021

Woah. What a ride we have been on since this time last year. At this time last year I was home with a cold, just a regular cold, but being super cautious due to the rona being around. It was my first St.Patricks day away from Bar Method Darien since starting at the studio in 2018. I did go for a walk in the rain that day (thank you FB memories for the reminder) Today I went back to the studio…

Hello Friends!

2020 has been quite the adventure, and writing has taken a bit of a back burner to other things happening in life. I went back to work in June after being laid off due to covid, and life has been a whilrlwind ever since going back.

I completed my last full day at my job on Friday, and will be starting a new job in a week or so. I will be working less days a week at my…

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGT72tlrWA

At the start of the Pandemic Shutdowns, my friend John invited me to a project group on Facebook.

It’s a group of musicians from all over the world, and we created something beautiful!

This was such a fun outlet during this fine at home 😊

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGT72tlrWA

At the start of the Pandemic Shutdowns, my friend John invited me to a project group on Facebook.

It’s a group of musicians from all over the world, and we created something beautiful!

This was such a fun outlet during this fine at home 😊

Steve and I landed in Portland, OR on February 29, aka the day that the first coronavirus deaths happened in Seattle, WA. We were on a trip to help a family member that just had major surgery and we also had plans on sight seeing in Seattle…but our trip was much different than we had planned it to be.

Upon landing we gathered our luggage, got our rental car and drove to a brewery to get lunch and that’s when reality hit.  We were sitting at the bar and saw the news.  My phone started to ring and it was my sister asking us to cancel all of our Seattle plans.

We spent that night at a family friends house in southern WA, and then drove to my sisters place in Tacoma on March 1.  We were watching the news of what was happening in King County, WA daily.  We were watching numbers skyrocket seemingly by the minute.

We ended up cancelling the food tour of Pike Market, and spending our one night in Seattle pretty much hotel bound. I did take two Bar Method classes, and we went for dinner at Capitol Cider, but it was not crowded.

The bright spot in not being able to wander Seattle, was that we got to spend a few hours with Steve’s Godmother at her beautiful home in Federal Way.  Her backyard is the Puget Sound.  We walked in the chilly, fresh air.  I collected sea glass and sea shells to bring back to Connecticut with me.  It was a very peaceful morning.

Steve and his Godmother and her Husband

Steve and I

Steve used a walking stick for the hike up and down the hill to the beach

Collecting shells

After a 6am workout at The Bar Method Seattle

I fit inside the giant cabinet in our hotel room

I got to see my friend Savannah

Paul and Tracy

Steve trying beer, right when we got to Portland

The photos that I have included, are pretty much the only photos that we took on our trip.  We were able to squeeze in some time with a few people, but as we watched the news unfold, we started limiting the amount of interactions that we had leading up to our departure from Portland on March 7.

When we got back from our trip we took an uber home from JFK instead of subjecting ourselves to 3 different modes of public transportation.  I was watching the news on the plane ride back and learned that the first cases in NY state had started to be detected.  I knew that once we got home, things were about to be drastically different than they were when we left for WA.

On March 8, we went to hear the New Choral Society sing a concert.  I usually perform with the group, but since I had been traveling, I was not singing the concert.  I am very glad that we went and listened to the concert, and attended the after party, as it was the last time the group has been together face to face…and will be until the fall.

I got back to work on March 9, I had been traveling, the family I work for had been traveling…we all were watching the news constantly and trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

The family I work for was not worried about things shutting down, but I have family in China, and I saw what was coming for us here.  I knew that it would not stay business as usual here, if we wanted to flatten the curve.

I asked my family what things were/are like where they live.  I was told that they did not re-open things after the new year celebrations, and now after more than 9 weeks of shut downs things are slowly opening back up.   They get their temperatures taken everywhere, and if you have a fever, you get sent to the fever hospital to be tested.  Everyone is required to wear masks in public…I ordered my masks weeks ago due to this fact. I knew that at some point the CDC would recommend that we start wearing them here in the USA and I wanted to be prepared.

Things where my family live are started to return to a new normal, and that gives me some hope for life here in Connecticut.  I have been off of work as a precautionary measure for 2 weeks now.  I have been doing my best to keep busy.  I have started a new passion project called Storytime with Alyssa.  It has been amazing.  I have been participating in as many social zoom calls as I can.

I have not taken a full Bar Method class, as I am not mentally ready for that yet.  I am still grieving the loss of the in studio classes too much, but I have started doing my ABCs of fitness workouts again, and that feels really good.

I am very thankful for my church, bar method, instagram, and facebook communities at this time.  I would not be staying as level headed without all of my virtual people.

I bought myself flowers

Home date:steak

Dory working out

Spring is here!

Roomba is the main housekeeper now

The store was out of eggs, but my friend has chickens and saved the day!

Breakfast of champions

Coffee with Church friends

AlphaBesties test call!

Marinated Onions

You cant see me

Steve sporiting the social distance fashion

Self confidence boosting selfie

Zoom Church

I am finding ways to cope with this new way of life.  I am taking it day by day, sometimes hour by hour.  We will all get through this together…but apart…

The following is a very quickly typed out rant/story about some things that happened this week and its full of disorganized thoughts, as I just need to get this out of my brain.

From the title, you should know that its about an eating disorder.  #triggerwarning

      On Febuary 15, 2020 I walked into LA Fitness for the first time in months.  I got a deal on a membership, and like having access to…

A while back I talked about the 7 dimensions of wellness, and how I follow them you can read about that here. Self care also has multiple parts, and they are similar to the dimensions of wellness.  They are physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and professional self care. These are all very important.  I will share my self care routine with you, and maybe that will inspire some ideas of how to bring more self care into your own life.

Physical Self Care

This is the most talked about type of self care.  This is where the mani/pedi, sauna, long bath, massage, eating well and exercise come into play.  Anything that helps you physically recharge.

For me physical self care is making sure I exercise at least 3 days a week. I enjoy taking classes at The Bar Method, going for walks, and I recently started using a fun program called the ABCs of Fitness.

I try to eat a fruit or vegetable with each meal, and I do not classify any foods as good or bad.  Food is just food, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying it.  This is self care for me, because I used to feel guilty if I ate a cupcake or “junk” and now I just eat it and move on with my day.

I do enjoy the occasional mani/pedi when my budget allows for it.  I have started being more intentional about a skin care routine and taking that time out of my morning and evening to help physically put my best face forward.

Doing parallel thigh, while on a Sunday Hike

I have been trying these on my face, I like them so far

  Emotional Self Care & Psychological Self Care

I am putting these two together, because they play off of one another so much.  Emotional self care is about feeling and acknowledging your emotions, but not letting them control you. Psychological self care is about taking care of your mind.

I practice these types of self care in a few different ways.  The most important one is that I have a therapist that I talk to.  When I first started seeing her back in 2015, I went weekly, now I go about 2 times a month.  Seeing a therapist is a wonderful thing.  I can talk about ANYTHING I want in that room, and not have to worry about making anyone around me angry, and without judgement.  It’s nice to have a sounding board that is a neutral party when making life decisions. This practice helps me process my emotions in a healthy way, and prevents me from falling off the deep end and letting them rule my life.

This is the type of self care where setting boundaries comes in. I set boundaries by saying no to attending events that will make my schedule too chaotic.  I keep certain evenings blocked off from scheduling anything, so I can make my own appointments during those times.

Spiritual Self Care

This is all about being spiritually fed.  This does not necessarily mean being part of an organized religion.  It’s about connecting with our higher power and finding our purpose in life.

My spiritual self care consists of attending church, practicing gratitude, spending time in prayer, and connecting with nature.

Professional Self Care

This type of self care is about the balancing act between work and other life.  If you are not taking care of yourself and keeping your wellness in balance (yes all 7 aspects) and not taking time for the other types of self care, your professional life will suffer.  All of us have some sort of profession/job in life, and we all need to balance it.

I work as a professional nanny, and a performer.  I also have the job of cat mom and partner while I am at home. This does not always allow for much “me” time, so I have started to get creative to help my work/life balance.

I spend a lot of time in my car driving to and from work.  I was starting to feel overwhelmed by the commute a few weeks ago.  I asked myself why it was so frustrating to be in the car for up to 2.5 hours a day and the answer was that I felt like I was wasting time.  I have turned my drive time into a time of self care- multitasking is fun-by checking out audiobooks on CD from the library.  I prefer this to listening to books on my phone, as it makes it so I can only listen to the story while I am in my car, and it makes the drive time more exciting, and I will finally “read” the Harry Potter series.

I get a break during my work day while the toddler takes a nap.  Once I finish my work tasks (dishes, laundry) I get time to myself.  I fill this time getting my own things done.  Making appointments, catching up with family, watching netflix, writing blog posts, online classes and sometimes this is when I get my workout in.  These are all things that I do while he naps to help me be back on my game when he wakes up, and they are things that I do not have to worry about getting done at 7:30pm when I am home for the night.

    So there you have it, the main ways that Alyssa practices self care.  Its not all insta worthy or glamorous. Some might call it “boring self care” but its very important when it comes to keeping that wellness wheel (pictured above) in balance.

Wow, January is already halfway complete, and this is the first time I’m sitting down to write a blog post. Time sure flies!

This year I have chosen a word for the year instead of a New Years resolution. My word for 2020 is JOY.

This has always been an important word to me, in fact it has been tattooed on my body for almost a decade now. I got the tattoo in February of 2010.

Over the past 16 days…

Crushing it…

People are always saying that every could has a silver lining, and the older I get, the more I am finding this to be true.  Sometimes that lining is big, and sometimes its microscopic…but its there somewhere…right?

This week I have been reflecting a lot about things that I am thankful for.  Thanksgiving is next week, but that is not what prompted this train of thought.  It was a series of events…

Its 3:06pm on 10/21/2019 and I am processing many emotions.  The kiddo that I care for is sleeping, and will likely wake up soon.

My Grandma had her hip replaced this morning, and everything went as planned.  She called me herself not too long after getting out of surgery.  Medical technology is so amazing.

Not even an hour after hearing from her, I heard from my Uncle Mike that my Great-Uncle…

Last year at this around time I was in Wisconsin visiting my family and my charge was with his parents visiting family in London. The little boy was only 5 months old at the time, but he got me a great gift. He brought back a Paddington Bear for me.

Paddington spent a few days being my driving buddy, but then I realized that he might like to go on some adventures as well, so he started coming…