Today I went to Coach Monster’s spin class. He gave me a killer pep talk, which I deeply needed in light of my body feeling held together by staples. After class, I rolled out my legs per the orders of Dr. Magic Man Hands with my new STICK.
I showered, and I headed to work. I was all ready to tackle the day, but first, I had to get my Friday fix: Einstein’s Bagels for egg whites, asparagus, mushrooms, fruit cup and giant “cheers to the freaking weekend coffee.”
I walked into Einstein’s and I was in la-la land. I was thinking about my bum knee, Augusta, and just nothing in general.
I ordered, paid, and got my coffee. The cashier called my name to get my food, and I walked up to the counter. I bumped into a girl about my age, and I apologize profusely, “I’m so sorry.”
To which she responded something that rhymed with “Buck Two” – only that wasn’t quite it.
I was floored. “I just said I was sorry,” I said.
“Yeah, well you just slammed the door on me too. That’s enough from one witch for the day.” (Only she didn’t really say witch, either.)
I looked at her, speechless. She grabbed her food, and walked outside. I slammed the door on her? Which one? What?
Now, I’m not one to take crap from people. [Just ask the Expert about the Blues Traveler concert, Georgia Theater, circa 2000. On second thought, don’t.] I grabbed my food and headed out in the parking lot after her. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say to her. Maybe I would apologize more, and then say, “Maybe you should get laid, you angry wench,” or something more productive, like, “Perhaps you might want to give triathlon a try! It will help with your anger issues and that sourpuss face.”
She glanced back at me and saw me walking out. Then she picked up her pace and jumped in her car.
Good grief, I thought. What am I doing? Nothing was going to go well with this…. That girl was a timebomb. I did not want to land in jail today.
I turned quickly, walked to my car, and got in.
I put my coffee in the cup holder. And then I burst into tears.
Things I Control Today:
What I eat
What I say
How I react
What I think (positive thoughts only!)
Things I Don’t Control:
What others do to me
What the angry bagel eaters say to me
I stopped crying. Was I going to let this crazy veggie cream cheese puff ruin my day? Destroy my good mood after the solid pep talk from the Monster? Cloud the healing thoughts I am sending to my body? Spoil the healthy food I packed to nosh on all day?
No.
I can’t control what the crazies do. But I can certainly keep myself from joining their roster. So many things in our lives are reactions and choices — things do happen to us, but the way we react is what determines the successes and failures.
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
-Charles Swindoll
As we countdown NINE (!) days to Augusta, I am going to focus on what I can do, what I can control, and how I act/think/deal with the circumstances around me.
This is going to be a great 70.3 experience, I can feel it. I am looking forward to meeting so many of you and sharing the race course with you. For those of you in the crazy taper land with me…. let’s stay positive and grab this Augusta bull by the horns.
Have a great weekend, friends.
===============================
THE BOOK: AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW!
Get it cheaper AND get it by Christmas.
Up to 2 months before the general release via Amazon.
Go HERE to lock in your copy.
- Paperback Edition, 430 pages
Tricycle Books
Pre-Order Price: $16.95
GO HERE TO PRE-ORDER.
Good for you SBM! You will rock Augusta and the crazy lady won’t be there to bring you down! Have fun.
Good for you for realizing there was nothing you could do about crazy bagel lady! That stuff will kill you if you let it. If it makes you feel any better, there are crazy bagel people at the Einsteins out here too. Seriously, some over-the-top mean people order at that place. Have a happy Friday and a great weekend!!
Had a similar experience yesterday -_-! Grateful for your post as it reminds me to control me. Thank you for once again sharing a lesson I needed today :0).
Like your stick. I have one too. Perhaps I should use it 🙂 Letting go of the things you can’t control is one of the pieces of advice I got from a session we had with Heather Gollnick a few weeks back. Hers was related to race day but…. she said to draw two circles on a paper, one inner circle and one outer circle (like a doughnut -yum!). Anyhow…. Write all the things you can control about race day in the inner circle (your attitude, your nutrition intake, etc.) and all the things you can’t in the outer circle (i.e. the weather, your swim wave placement, flat tires). The idea is to focus on the inner circle as much as possible and dont waste your time stressing about all the rest. (Have I told you this before – I feel like I have shared this with someone recently… if so, just ignore me, I am mental and have no control over it – ha ha).
GAH – that crazy biatch at einsteins’s what is up with that? Maybe she had some major life stress going on. Best you stay out of any parking lot confrontations that could result in injury or jail. You have Augusta in 9 days. After that, bring it on Einstein psycho. LOL.
This is such a great post Meredith… some things are out of your control. Own the things you can.
As for the angry bagel wench… eh, she definitely needs to chill out!
Crazy bagel haters! Massage sticks are awesome!!
But bagels are supposed to make people happy! Crazy lady!
Great reminder about attitude! Augusta is gonna be awesome!
I’ve come to realize that there are just some miserable “clucking” people out there in the world. Don’t let the bagel-wich ( 😉 ) get you down. She’s going to be miserable with your or without your presence.
I also wanted to thank you…for inspiring me to take chances. While doing the tri didn’t change my life, you have. I’m starting out on the new chapter of my life…one that is making me very happy and excited because of all the possibilities in front of me A life where I’m not sitting around doing nothing and wondering “why am I so unhappy?”
So yeah…that ‘wich might have caused a black mark on your day, but I hope this cancels it out! 🙂
Thanks for the post. I have trouble with trying to control things that I know are outside of my control but I try anyway. Good Luck at Augusta you are going to do great!!!!
You are such a good person! I probably would have gone after her with that stick 😉 as always, you ROCK!!
When I encounter someone like that, I just think “wow, how miserable to go through life that angry and unpleasant” and let it remind me to not be that way! Keep the great attitude, you will rock Augusta!
I love you!!! Thank you, so needed that today!!!
So the bitch had problems, they aren’t yours and you didn’t cause them. She was just coward enough to try and take them out one you. Glad you didn’t get to her as that might have escalated things. Keep being the positive role model that you are. We get CRAZY folks here all the time (S FL on the roads).
Ugh, that sucks about the crazy woman. When someone has that bad of an attitude I try to sympathize with them. Life must really suck when they get bent out of shape over trivial things then lash out. Seriously suck.
OMG, can I ever relate to this. I had a client yesterday who threw me under the bus, acted like a complete bully and just generally made me feel like crap. And I was supposed to be off for the day, but I decided to join an important call. So much for day 1 of a three day weekend. But reading this, you are right. I can only control me and realize that she’s never going to change.
Nice job, keep rolling it out with that stick, and know you are going to have an amazing race 🙂
I needed this.. REALLY needed this today. I woke up feeling sorry for myself because of these stoooopid injuries. It reminded me of what I have been preaching to a friend who is going through a tough time: “When you feel out of control, take control of what is really yours to affect. Forget the rest.” I needed my own advice and this post this morning. I can’t SwimBikeRun today but I can clean my kitchen, take the dogs for a walk in a beautiful place, eat to support healing and minimize weight gain, etc. Feeling sorry for myself isn’t on that list.
I say it every time I comment here.. Meredith, You ROCK!
And thank you.