Colored Pencils

#1 - "I'm never doing this again." This is the thought that I had while trying a new type of exercise class today - Barre. Regardless of how I felt in that moment, I am grateful to try a new type of exercise to motivate me and to keep things interesting.

#2 - The teacher of the class was a former teacher at my yoga studio. I was happy to see her back for a guest appearance, and even happier when the end of class came and I remembered that she gives everybody a foot rub while we lay in savasana.

#3 - I've been making phone calls on Sundays for a while now to gather support to legalize marriage for same-sex couples in MN. Last week I got bored in the end of my shift. Today I brought my journal and colored pencils so I could doodle while calling. The first two hours I was fine and just knowing I had the pencils if I needed them, made me not need them. The last half hour I needed them, and they made me able to not wish time would go faster.

#4 - When you arrive to volunteer they have a training time for people. I just jump on the phones now since I don't need it. At one point while people were role playing phone calls with each other, the trainer came over to me and asked if I had been listening to her and/or had any advice (she had demonstrated a pretend phone call). I was taken aback and didn't know why she was asking me. Then she said, "You have a great phone voice, I would totally talk to you."

#5 - Today I did have a "great phone voice" in that many of my calls were successful. I got a bunch of people to contact their legislator, and on a personal level, I didn't feel drained afterwards. Last week I just felt spent and needed a hug (or multiple hugs) at the end of my shift. It is somewhat a self-fulfilling prophecy I imagine. I felt energized today, so more people responded to that energy and agreed to make calls, which in turn kept me energized. When you are in the positive loop it works great, when you aren't...that is the mystery of life, what to do?