One of the joys (?) of pregnancy is that due to the many hormonal changes happening, you tend to have more vivid and easily recalled dreams.
And boy, have I had my fair share of these over the past 7 months.
At first, my dreams had recurring themes of me running full-tilt searching for something I’d lost (like my nanna, who had simply vanished from outside my childhood home), or super x-rated scripts involving some of my favourite celebrity crushes (sorry hubs).
One of the strangest and most detailed I can recall from early in my pregnancy was that I taking a taxi to work, my bicycle beside me in the back of the car, only to find that when I got to the office that the building was on fire. It was 3 or 4 in the morning, and that taxi drove us down into the entrance for streetcars. I still can’t figure out what it means – if it means anything.
The next stage of my dream narrative seemed to revolve around end-of-days scenarios – with my husband refusing to come with me in my last-ditch effort for survival.
I’ve now started having variations of survivalist dreams. The world is no longer ending, which is a nice change of pace, and while it’s no Hunger Games, I’m still fighting for my life.
The other night, I dreamt I was working at a slave-staffed fruit chopping facility (watermelon was my specialty) located in a rural camp in the middle of a lake. Suddenly, we were all lined up on the roof of one of the buildings and told to jump. Everyone died but because I was an expert diver (in my dream, I am not in real life), I survived the fall but was left to tread water in the middle of this great body of water, unbeknownst to my captors. Is this a reflection of how I’m feeling in my day-to-day? That I’m barely keeping my head above water with all that needs done between work and home?
They say that dreams are your mind’s way of handling the stresses of life and making sense of it all. Perhaps that’s all these strange night visions are, and there isn’t a need to read into them too much. In the meantime, I’ll just try to stay alive – both in my head and in person.
Mamas: What were some of the strange dreams you had while pregnant?
Dear Readers,
I wrote this for my other blog. GYM MOMENTUM but I think there is enough carryover for me to share it here as well.
Tony
Source: Finding Happiness in the Gym
I was 6 years old during the 1972 Olympics. I remember sitting on the living room floor with my mom watching the men compete.
The Japanese dominated followed by the Soviets. I remember watching Kato and Tsukahara on High Bar and Nikolai Andrianov and Nakayama on floor.
Clean lines matched with power.
I was struck with awe. I was hooked. I wanted to do that. I wanted to fly.
I asked my Mother how they got so high. What kept them in the air so long? My mother, who was once a gymnast, tried her best to explain the physics. How speed transferred into power.
When she left the room, I took the pillows off the couch and put them on the floor. Standing on the back of the couch, I stretched my arms up in my best imitation of Andrianov standing in the corner. I jumped down hit the springs and executed my first front tuck overshooting the landing zone of pillows taking out a coffee table in the process.
A few years and a few thousand hours of training later, I stood in the corner of the floor. I raised my arms in my best imitation of Peter Kormann and executed my opening pass. As I finished my routine I looked over at my coach. He smiled and shook my hand. My teammates gave me High 5’s. I looked toward the crowd and saw my parents smiling. I was invincible. I could have done my routine 20 more times that day.
It was at that moment that I realized what kept them in the air so long. It was Joy.
I try to carry that Joy into my life every day. With the children I coach, I want them to see that I love what I do. With coaches I work with I want them to see that I love working along side them. When I am teaching a clinic I want all the coaches there to know that they need to share the joy of teaching.
When it comes to making yourself happy, you need to learn what works for you. Once you discover this, everything else tends to fall into place. Here are some things to help you find your happiness.
1. Remember That You Are In Charge of Your Own Happiness
You have two choices in any job on any day: Make the most out of what you are doing or Change what you are doing. team just got their butts kicked at the last meet. There’s a big difference between understanding these larger forces and worrying about them. Doc Massimo told me once, “control the controllables.” Happy people are ready and informed, but they don’t allow themselves to fret over things that are beyond their control.
3. Don’t Compare Yourself to Other People
When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. I had a gymnast who always was comparing herself to others. “Is she better than me? Was that better than mine?” When you feel good about something that you’ve done, don’t allow anyone’s opinions or accomplishments take that away from you. It just stands in your way.
While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. — you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.
4. Reward Yourself
Working hard is important, but never allowing yourself to take a break is detrimental to your happiness. A Cornell study found that small rewards make people more generous, friendly, and happy. These small “thrills” also made people more productive and accurate in their work. I know going back to work after a vacation can be hard BUT don’t you feel great and motivated? You cannot take a vacation every month but you can give yourself a small reward. Rewards activate the pleasure pathway in your brain, even if they are self-induced. Effective rewards can be small things such as taking a walk during lunch or treating yourself to a coffee at your favorite cafe.
5. Don’t Judge and Gossip
Judging other people and speaking poorly of them is a lot like overindul. Not only is it rude. I have NEVER heard of people gossiping when it didn’t get back to the person they were talking about.
6. Choose Your Battles Wisely
Good coaches know how important it is to live to fight another day. As a parent I learned this from my kids. In conflict, unchecked emotion makes you dig your heels in and fight the kind of battle that can leave you unhappy and your team distracted. There ARE times you need to stand your ground. There are times you just need to roll with it. Choose wisely.
7. Stay True to Yourself.
8. Clear the Clutter
I don’t need to remind you of how much time you spend at the gym. Your workspace is filled with gymnastics equipment and children. Take a good look at it. Get rid of the junk and old mats you don’t use.. Fake it ’til you make it. I remember as a gymnast watching my coach enter the gym. If he was smiling and upbeat I couldn’t wait for training. If he was expressionless or looked angry, I wanted to hide. How do you want your gymnasts to enter the gym for practice? How do they want you to enter practice?. When I walk into the gym I know I gravitate to my employees who are pretty positive. When a “complainer” gets my ear- I try to set the limits by asking them how they intend to fix their problems. The complainer will then either quiet down or redirect the conversation in a productive direction. One of my golden rules in my gym (for both gymnasts and employees) is DO NOT COME TO ME WITH A PROBLEM WITHOUT A POTENTIAL SOLUTION.... Don’t be fooled. Believe in the great things the future has in store.This new retelling of the 1991 animated classic follows within the bounds of the original story with a few exceptions that give this extravagant film a different set of legs to stand on.
For instance, screenwriters Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (2014’s Hercules) give audiences new insight on Price Adam (The Guest’s Dan Stevens) before his royalty was stripped away by a curse. The context gives the Beast perspective that only the original film only glossed over. The same happens for Belle (Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame), only we find out a bit more about her father (Kevin Kline) and her mother. The results are fresh, attractive, and nice yet simultaneously puffy since it takes double the amount of time to cover more iconic scenes and choreography.
However, what I really admire about 2017’s Beauty and the Beast is that it acts as genre school for young movie goers. Underrated director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Mr. Holmes) does a