Motivation

Some days it's hard to get motivated, and today was especially hard. I was feeling down last night, and was struck by how much I miss Dottie (our family dog of 12 years, who we had to put down in October). Whenever I was down, she would follow me around the house, hang by my side, watch me throughout the night. She had a happy spirit that comforted me. I knew she did this for me, but last night when I needed it, I missed her absence more than I ever thought I would.

I've also found that since having Shingles, it's been hard to get my motivation up. It's unfortunate how drained it has made me feel. While I'm recovered from Shingles, I still don't have the stamina I had before. It's coming, just slower than I'd like.

Today I woke up to a dark, cold, snowy day. It is pretty out there:



... not too inviting. I would have rather just viewed it through the window while sitting by the fireplace. This happens every time, and even though I know it will happen, it's still hard to get dressed and start on the farm chores. Every time once I am out there doing the chores, I feel better, the tranquility of the animals rubs off on me and I'm so glad to be out there. Today Latte came up and gave me a sniff kiss. She does that to J and Emma a lot but not usually to me. While not Dottie, it struck me as so sweet, just what I needed this morning. It's amazing how animals just know.

I am telling as many people as possible so that I actually go through with it: this spring I am going to run in the Fifth Third River Bank Run. Before I had the whole shingles episode, I had talked myself into running the 10K. My reasoning is that I was already doing a 4 mile run most workout days, and a 5K would be shorter than my usual workout. It made sense to stretch myself - but no way do I want to think about the 25K! The 10K seemed like a good way to increase my ability, without adding on too much stress. I've only been on the treadmill once since having shingles and even running 4 miles seemed like a stretch, so I am going to wait and see about the 5K vs the 10K. For now I am just working on building up my stregth again. If it comes back at a good pace, I will be fine to complete a 10K in May.

Today I am motivated to spin yarn. I have some of Greyt's fiber



already started on the spinning wheel, with a toasty fire going in the fireplace: