Adding Comedy for Balance

July 1, 2015 — 2 Comments

Earlier in the year I made a plan to provide a spa vacation to myself without leaving town this summer.  My dog needs me frequently, and the heat is now upon us, so the stay in town has evolved into stay home in the air-conditioning most of the time.  I am happy I had started with a plan because the dog care giving could be a depressing situation without it.  She is resting most of the time without any apparent pain.  I spoke to my cousin this week who is dealing with the end of life issues of her dad. This conversation reminded me how, although the loss is sad and similar, the parent care is a lot more complicated than pet care. I am lucky to have the time and means to be able to stay home with my dog to make her comfortable. I have made some changes to my original plan:

• My workout audio is a mix from Amazon Prime Music.  I have added all the comedy albums available to my library.  This is a great lift. As I dance around my living room in the morning I use music to inspire, but the comedy makes me laugh out loud.  If you have not tried adding comedy to your exercise routine don’t knock it. I love it.
• Hulu watch list- I do Hulu every few months and then freeze my account because I already enjoy all the shows from Amazon Prime free of ads.  While the subscription is active I binge on history documentaries, British detective shows, and lots of comedy.  There are a few shows I think are very funny, like Moone Boy, an Irish sitcom, that I can only find on Hulu.  I also really love all the stand up available. I started my month last week and am fully taking advantage of it.

What has been working well at my stay at home spa is the fun with food prep and the use of helpful apps that track my movement and pace.  I started using Endomondo while I was still walking outside each morning.  It uses GPS to measure distance and speed.  I find that my speed dancing a mile is the same as walking outside for a mile.  The fitbit has been very helpful to increase my sleep at night, even though I get up for the dog many times.  I now use honey to deepen my sleep.  By trying the honey method I have increased the average time I sleep each night.  This is a very important aspect of keeping my mood positive.  With enough movement and enough sleep I can withstand all kinds of stress.

I am also taking advantage of this time to be creative in my own kitchen.  I am making new recipes and trying new techniques I have learned from the food preppers.  I made refrigerator pickles for the first time.  This could be a really fun little hobby as well as a tasty way to keep food from spoiling.  I am also working my way through all the chilled soups that look good to me. I have time to write, read, to work on my family history, or do whatever feels good at the time. This too shall pass, but for now I am making it work and reminding myself of the comedy and creativity available to us in life.