Picture this- It’s the week after a great Mother’s Day and it it NOT…I repeat N-O-T the week I planned.  It was wild.  It was stressful.  It was overwhelming.  A couple of times I thought, “Is this really happening to me?”  “Did [insert the miriade of adults and children that said off the wall things to me] just say that to me?” It was a week I would like to forget in many ways, but one I have to lock away in the memory bank.  I had planned a completely different post to go out Thursday, but Thursday was the straw that threatened to break my back.  I don’t know if it is the result of 5 planets in retrograde right now or something I did

in my former life that forced me to literally bite my tongue to prevent me from responding to my stress in a negative way.  Either way it was NOT the week I planned.

I originally wanted to share my experience with Zumba (which I LOVE by the way) as my personal stress reliever and it is ironic that my week ended up being filled with stress.  Shout out to B’More Fit Studio/@bmore.fit.studios.  That post will be coming soon.

Even with all that was going on with me and my 9-to-5, I still had to keep it together to have something to give to my family.  As much as I wanted to stay home and catch up on the shows on my DVR, I still had people depending on me to be places and do things and I had to show up.  I had to keep going.  I had to keep pushing.  I had to keep moving forward.  That was hard.  There were moments when I sent text messages to people asking for help (and prayer) to not do the things ‘the other Krystal’ was telling me to do.  I even came home right after work one day before picking up the kid from school and caught up on the last 2 episodes of Blackish and laughed out loud.  I mean I really laughed out loud…HARD.  And I enjoyed it.  I took a moment to not eat [or drink] my feelings and instead sat, prayed, then zoned out for a few moments to laugh.  I even got in 3 workouts this week and I’m proud of that.  Humph, the more I think about it, I managed to hold it together pretty well amidst a bit of chaos.  Insert a ceremonial pat on the back for me!

While the week had its Kings Dominion-ish highs and lows, it ended on a great note with seeing my niece and nephew off to the prom and meeting a new group of women I connected with over a good book and life.  When stressful and oddly annoying things happen to me I often think that I have to remember the nuances of the events because there is a lesson I am supposed to learn and if I miss it I may be forced to repeat the stress and I DO NOT want that to happen.  So here are my lessons from the week I didn’t plan:

1. Say what you mean and mean what you say.  One thing I am is genuine and I don’t lie.
2. Operate in kindness, fairness and equity.  I am a fair person and believe in that.
3. Do not compromise who you are for what others think you should be. Point blank.
4. Stick to your guns and believe your ‘gut.’ Again- do not compromise.
5. Sometimes you have to remind them who you are…just in case they forgot!  My name is Krystal, hear me roar!

I know this is not the last time I will have a stressful week…I hope the good Lord waits a long while before I get another one!  When the next one comes I am going to have to reread this post, say my prayers, get support from my network, put on my ‘big girl’ undies and trudge on through.  Keep moving forward. –krystal