Last week, a co-worker and I did this awesome hike. Nancy is my co-worker that organized our Mt. St. Helens climb. She is such an amazing person! She is the most adventurous, active, outdoors woman older than 40 that I have ever met. She is also very kind and easy to get-a-long with. I am all about getting to hang out with her outside of work! She is also the one who let me use her road bike to practice on before the triathlon. She was so funny though because she was very intimidated to do this hike, being very nervous and not sure if she would be able to keep up. Cracks me up because she just did St. Helens with me and she has climbed Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier, and who knows what else. NO reason she should feel intimated. But this hike was a difficult hike, nothing like climbing a volcano though! it was a 13 mile loop in Tillamook State Forest in which you summit Elk Mtn. and King's Mtn. It was fun! There were some steep and rocky sections, having to do a little scrambling. But the temperature was great, did not rain on us, just a cloudy view from on top; very pretty!! Of course, even though the temperature was perfect for hiking we were still dripping with sweat! haha. It took us a while, maybe 7 hours I think, but it was tons of fun. Had great conversation, enjoying the outdoors and hiking. Only saw two older ladies on the lower trail section. It was a great day. Can't wait to spend more time with her!
Last Saturday I experienced some beach dancing. I went to Cannon Beach (south of Seaside) with two other co-workers to do this beach dancing that this lady in Cannon Beach does. She syncs ipods together and has a theme to each dance session, then we just let loose and dance, be free, do whatever comes to us. It's so amazing to just not care what others are thinking of you and to be out on the beach, the cliffs and mountains in the background, listening to the music and connecting with myself as well as with God. The lady that does this has a dream for thousands of people to experience dancing on the beach. After doing this and talking to other people about it and inviting them to it I realize more and more how terrible us girls (and guys) are at being self-conscious. Who really cares what you do and what you look like out on the beach? One nurse tonight was telling me about how she needed to lose 20 pounds by September because she is going to a family reunion. We expect people to judge us by our outward appearance and we don't have confidence in who we are on the inside. And of course we are going to feel this way because we do judge based on outward appearance. You know when you see someone you graduated with or friends and family you haven't seen in a while, you compare their looks to the last time you saw them. You think, "they look thinner," or, "they have gained weight." WHY DO WE DO THIS?!?! Why does it matter how people have changed in their appearance over time? What matters is how their lives have changed. What are they doing now? Are they happy? Where are they? What kinds of things are they experiencing? It shouldn't matter to us what they look like. What should matter is that they are happy and feel good about themselves. And everyone should feel good about themselves. If we are generally good people and try to do good and be kind to others, we should feel good about ourselves. Not a conceited sort of good, but a good because we are alive and well and trying to live life to the fullest. God created us all so differently and uniquely and in his image. No matter our outward appearance we are beautiful, inside and out. It breaks my heart to hear people criticize themselves so much. I was talking to one person a few weeks ago who I admire very much and is a very happy person but after talking for a while, I discovered how they have had their fair share of self-image disorder problems. It amazed me! I am constantly surprised to hear individuals whom I admire and think have the greatest hearts, smiles, hair, or whatever; but they are not confident in themselves. I have been wanting to get my personal trainer certification for a while. I feel since I am not model perfect, but am, in general, confident in who I am, I can help people be more comfortable in working out and pushing themselves to achieve their goals and happiness in themselves. Doing this would not only be a great opportunity to help people feel good in their outward appearance, but in their inward selves as well; in who they are as a human being. Unfortunately, as a travel nurse, I obviously do not have a stable environment, schedule, or life in general. Never really knowing where I am going to be from one place to the next. So I have decided to post-pone my desire to get my certification until I am a little more grounded. I still desire to help instill confidence in people. My challenge for myself is to compliment people more. It is amazing how compliments boost moral so much. And my challenge to you is to do something that can help make you feel more confident in who and what you are. An example is beach dancing! I'm not kidding, go somewhere, whether it be public or private, even your bathroom, put on some headphones and just let your body do the talking. If you do start in the bathroom, I challenge you to eventually head out and do it in public. It's actually kind of fun to see the kinds of looks you get! Whatever you choose to do, do it with confidence, because you are beautiful and amazing and God loves you and created you how you are. You are an inspiration to others, be an inspiration to yourself as well!
The days that I was off last week and over the weekend, I was on call during the night so I couldn't go anywhere, which turned out to stink because there were so many people around that I wanted desperately to go camping, all by myself, in the middle of the woods! The weather wasn't the greatest last week so I kind of enjoyed some days being a home body and getting some stuff done. On Saturday, after the beach dancing I really wanted to go somewhere that I wouldn't just run into more crowds. Where would I find that here, I had no idea. Turned out I found this lake about 30 min. away. Got to bike up the road and trail to get to it and I was the only one there the whole time! Did not see anyone until coming down there was a family backpacking up. It was amazing! I got to read, write, and take a nap! It was a bit chilly, but it was awesome. Probably helped that the highway was closed and I had to haul my bike across this ravine. It was just what I needed that day! And I think we are actually supposed to get some weather above 60's this week so that is very exciting!
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