I'm Back!

Well, here I am! (That is for YOU, my three followers of this blog. LOL)I know I stopped blogging for a while there. I got a little sick after the Open and my parents came into two for a few weeks to visit, which was awesome!!The Open was long but great! I stuck to my rules that I made for myself, which made the Open pretty smooth for me. Don’t get me wrong. Negative thoughts entered my head throughout the long 5 weeks of the Open. Although I do have to say I did a pretty good job kicking those negative thoughts in the ass! I really feel like this year’s Open has helped me in my mental game. Every time a negative thought entered my head I replaced it a positive one, a positive rep, or a feeling of excitement. Most importantly, these positive thoughts weren’t forced but rather I made myself actually BELIEVE them. I had to work hard to do this but as the weeks trudged on….I kept at it. As I am sitting here recaping the Open, I realized I need to be doing the same thing right now for Regionals!!! Regionals training has been tough –trying to get all the extra stuff in while also teaching. I was spoiled last year because regionals was after school got out. However, I did what I needed to do without feeling too sorry for myself or letting myself get into that "victim" mentality again:)I have to give a shout out to Jared, my hubby, for being so supportive with my crazy schedule and mood swings:):) In fact, I just gave my students this same speech last week in class. Since we got back from spring break, I caught three students cheating, have a long list of kids with missing homework, and, on top of that, students can’t even remember to bring their damn Othello books to class. I always joke with my students at the end of the year and tell them “not to fall off the ship.” “The ship is sailing and isn’t to port until mid-June.” This year one of the class clowns pipes up and says, “But what if we hit an iceberg?!” I respond, “Don’t worry. I am a good captain.” And we all have a laugh. I am desperate to motivate my students right now. I find myself in the same predicament every year at this time; it is very hard for the kids to focus and begin to feel like everyday we are one step closer to sinking. Will I change all of the kids? Absolutely not. However, I always try my best each year. This year I decided to tell them about my training program because most of the time if I talk about Crossfit they actually listen. I explained that I am at the gym for 2 to 3 hours every night doing workouts, strength, skills, and anything else to get ready for Regionals. Many nights have been spent in the parking lot of my gym, in the dark, alone, pushing/pulling weight. I explained to them that it would be easy for me to skip it, quit half way through, or go home to sleep, but I don’t. It is so much more important to me that my students learn work ethics, perseverance, and integrity rather than comma rules. So, I figure if I can try to model this to them as much as possible, it will help. On that note, I am so excited yet nervous for Regionals. I have a lot of goals set for myself that I have been thinking about since last year’s regional. These nerves have seemed to get the best of me lately, but I need to be my own damn captain- nobody can do it for me. I need to control my thoughts like I did in the Open so I don’t let any 70 pound icebergs throw me around. I am the one in control!! Let’s do this!