Dear Friends,
Today was the 40th Anniversary of the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon...
Two years ago, some of you know I trained for the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon as a 40th birthday goal to overcome one of my greatest fears. I went from being an, "I lounge at the beach and don't go in the water person," to forcing myself to take lessons (thank you Ken and Devon Demont!) to seriously prepare for the 1.5 mile open water race in the freezing San Francisco Bay (with possible "wildlife" encounters). Ahem.
In the months leading up to the race, I stayed on a disciplined training schedule, building up from literally only being able to swim 2 lengths of the pool to eventually 100 lengths. I swam several times a week, including practicing at Aquatic Park in the San Francisco Bay at least once every other week so that I could get used to being COLD, no more like freezing. I had good training days where swimming for an hour felt easy. I had awful training days when the white caps were too rough, I was too cold to move any more, or I just couldn't stay calm and get my breath under control. I failed my swims often enough, including the week RIGHT before the race, to know that my doubts were a real concern:
Can I really finish THIS race?
The interesting part is... it was the first time in my life I knowingly committed to something, ready to give my all, but also, ready to forgive myself if I failed. The training process taught me that nothing was truly in my control. I prepared as much as I could, but maybe the current will be too strong, or maybe I will need to be rescued by a kayaker, or maybe... I will see a shark. Whatever the reason, I went into the race knowing that I did everything I could to train for the swim, and I was going to be proud of myself, whatever the outcome.
I reached an acceptance, "Que Sera, Sera"
What will be, will be
When I was just a little girl...
I had such fond memories of singing Karaoke with my dad in the family room. He had the old school record turntables that I would take out from the vertically-stored cardboard sleeves. Eventually it became cassette tapes, and then VCD's. It's a blur how we did things in the past!
But we did it, and I grew up memorizing and singing songs from the 50s and 60s with my dad. I can still remember most of the lyrics of many classics such as Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera," and for some reason, this song came to me just as I started writing this week's newsletter. It's spot on.
"Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be,
The future's not ours to see.
Que sera, sera,
What will be, will be."
Letting go of control...
Thank you for your patience and understanding as I continue to tweak and make changes to our class schedule and location. At the start of summer, all restrictions were released and we enjoyed a few weeks of indoor dancing. Now with the Delta variant, we are wearing masks indoors, but leaving all the windows and doors open. It's not ideal, but as I wrote last week, I'm grateful we can still hold classes.
However, a new variable is starting to show itself. Today, as we left our house to go out for dinner, I saw the air and I smelled the smoke. I was reminded that the season for fires and poor air quality are back. Ugh.
Indoor, outdoor, location, availability, safety... my desire for finding "perfection" is unrealistic. Just like my training for the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, I have come to the humble realization and frustrating acceptance that at some point, I will need to weigh out all the factors and let go of trying to control everything. I need to be ok making the best decision versus the perfect decision, and stop this constant and exhausting search for something that does not exist. What will be, will be.
Classes ONLY Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week @UUMarin!
* Tuesday 8/17: 9:30am Stop Drop And Dance & 10:45am YogaBURN
* Wednesday 8/18: 9:30am HIIT Camp 30/30 & 10:45am Gentle Vinyasa Yoga
* Thursday 8/19 9:30am Stop Drop And Dance
My family and I will take a week off this Saturday, August 21st to the following Saturday, August 28th. Classes will resume on Tuesday, August 31st. Stay tuned for any changes in schedule or location!
Putting one foot in front of the other...
If any of you have also been feeling frustrated, discouraged, scared, hopeless, confused...
About Covid, work, family, life, ANYTHING...
This message is for you.
Accept that we cannot control everything.
We can only show up, do our best, and take one step at a time.
The rest... que sera, sera.
Love,
Grace
