Yes, totally true. I called 911 last night.
First off, you should know I have a completely irrational fear of being robbed and/or raped and/or murdered (Sara’s Super Neurotic Trait #17). Always have. I actually laugh about it, because I think up the most unimaginable scenarios of how these things could happen all the time. Yet, I’ve never really been in danger of any of these things happening. Knock on wood.
So, last night I got up to go to the bathroom at about midnight and heard all this yelling coming from our front yard. I looked went to look out my husband’s office window to find a man standing in our front yard, screaming into his cell phone, “Bring me my daughter or I’ll {expletive} kill you!” over and over and over and over.
Mind you, I live in a neighborhood in Seattle called Phinney Ridge. It’s generally a quiet little family community. So this was ummmmm, shocking, freaky and just completely strange.
Upon seeing this man in our yard, my irrational mind went wild. Without giving it a second thought I grabbed the phone next to my husband’s computer and called 911. Didn’t even go wake my husband first.
Then I watched as 4 women (all in their 50’s, by the way) who live across the street came out to see what was going on. The man began walking down the street a bit and they followed. Me, the strong, confident personal trainer – what did I do?? I went out to my front porch and watched from the safety of the darkest corner of the porch, cell phone in one hand, land line in the other. You can’t have too many phones in these situations.
My lovely neighbors were able to get him off his phone and to chat calmy with him.
As it turns out he was drunk, completely trashed. Once spoken to calmly and warmly he just completely mellowed out to explain to these women what was going on.
And I hid on my porch.
When it comes to unpredictable and potentially unsafe situations, what are your instincts? Supposedly we all have some degree of fight or flight in us. I’m not sure I do. I crumble. In my previous career at a psychiatric hospital a patient attacked me. I crumbled to the floor in the fetal position. Didn’t fight back, didn’t run away.
Another time, a patient threw a VCR at my coworker and I went and hid under a desk while I called 911 (yes, sadly, I’m no stranger to those three digits.)
When I’m thrown off my game it takes me awhile to figure out how to react.
After all this midnight commotion, I was obviously WIDE awake. I pretty much watched the clock the rest of the night waiting for my 4:45 alarm to go off. No sleep.
When I got out of bed at 4:50am I felt like poop. No sleep, cranky, unmotivated to take on the day. I had to give myself a pep talk. I had to get in the right space to teach my 6 am Boot Campers.
Then I had to make a decision. Should I pack my workout clothes as planned so I could get my sweat on right after class? Or should I come home and take a nap?? The middle of the night 911 escapade threw me off my game and I wasn’t sure I was up for my typical Wednesday sprint intervals followed by a heavy duty back session.
When I’m thrown off my game it takes me awhile to figure out how to react.
Enter Sara’s Super Neurotic Trait #18: Chronic Irrational Guilt. It likely stems from 16 years of Catholic Schools, haha…..
I knew if I didn’t work out right after Boot Camp I would feel guilty all day and try to figure out a way to squeeze it in somewhere else. I knew this would frustrate me and would feel disappointed in myself for not just sucking it up, putting on my big girl pants and pushing through my normal scheduled workout, even if I was a little slower/weaker/more fatigued than normal.
I grabbed my running shorts as I headed out the door, still not completely convinced I would get the workout in.
When I’m thrown off my game it takes me awhile to figure out how to react.
After Boot Camp (which is always super inspirational to me), I decided I would just try my workout. I gave myself permission to stop if I felt like crap.
Low and behold I felt awesome. Pretty much rocked the whole thing. HELL YEAH!!!
So I clearly made the right decision. Now the workout is done. I feel awesome and I can get my day rolling.
When you’re thrown off your game, what do you do? Do you crumble into the fetal position? Do you hide in the dark corners of your life? Do you think through your options and make a deal with yourself to put on your big girl pants and step up to the plate?
If you aren’t somewhat aware of how you handle unpredictability and curve balls, you run the risk of giving up control of a great deal of your health. You will sweat less, eat more and perhaps do this:
Yes, that’s me eating a piece of cake that is bigger than my head, I’m pretty sure.
More on this ginormous piece of cake in my next post. This whole post was actually supposed to be related to cake, but as it turned out I had major tech problems all day yesterday and was unable to get up the post I wanted to share today. Yup, another curve ball.
When I’m thrown off my game it takes me awhile to figure out how to react.
But I’m determined to make choices that will allow me to live with no regrets. So I’m practicing reacting with grace, humor and sweat at every chance. I don’t get it right every time. Sometimes I crumble. Sometimes I hide. Sometimes I eat cake. Oh, and sometimes I call 911. But I still put on my big girl pants and practice every time I get.
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