March 20, 2012

Turn the Day Around

My day did not start with a bang. Well, I suppose literally it did – Dallas was dark and stormy all night (tornado watch!), and the thunder was so loud that it woke me up probably every hour. Each time, I briefly wondered if the huge rumbling was actually a tornado, since I’ve heard they sound like a freight train coming. Each time I woke up I also thought about the fact that I am staying on the 29th floor of one of the only high rise buildings in downtown Dallas, and how easy it would be for my entire floor to get blown away by a tornado. I thought perhaps I should seek refuge down in the lobby, or at least check to see if there was a tornado approaching. But then instead of actually doing any of that, I would go back to sleep until an hour later when I got woken up again. (I hope it is not a bad sign of my mental health that I valued sleep over safety).

I woke up a bit groggy, but surprisingly not as tired as I expected given that I had only gotten 6 hours of sleep on Sunday night and did a killer weights workout at the gym last night. (The gym at my new hotel is so gorgeous and big and full of equipment that I might have to revive the “hotel gym review” category of my blog just so I can show it off). At 6:30am, I headed down to the gym once again, this time to hit up the elliptical for some power cardio – 3.6 miles in 30 minutes. Woo!

I headed up to my room to get ready for work – shower, moisturize, brush teeth, dress, put makeup on, and… whoa, hold up a sec. Where’s the hair dryer? Not on the bathroom shelf, not behind the door, not outside of the bathroom in the main closet… oh, no. My room is missing a hairdryer! #WhiteWhine

I called down to Guest Services to ask them to bring a hairdryer, please, and implored them to hurry – this was basically the last thing I needed to do to get out the door, and I needed to get out the door stat. While yesterday was my first day on my new project, today was the first day that I was responsible for getting myself to the office on time (vs just stepping off a plane), and I wanted to show that I was punctual. Unfortunately, as I continued to pace the room and stare at the clock, it became apparent that I was going to show up not only late, but also disheveled. By the time I finally gave up on a hair dryer and just left (yup, hair = soaking wet… very professional), I was in a rotten mood. I skipped breakfast in order to not be any later than I already was, and I was basically just “grumpypants” when I arrived at work. Not my best MO, especially on a new project where I’m making lots of first impressions.

But at 9:30, I decided to “turn the day around” (done even more easily when sung in the style of Gloria Estefan). What would make me happy? I realized that moving on and being super productive would make me feel infinitely better, so I got busy. To do list time! I wrote down every little task, and have been ticking them off one by one. Maybe I am just weird, but I love crossing things off my to-do list and being able to look at all the cross-outs and see it get shorter and shorter.

I know it’s such a small thing, but I am proud that I was able to start the day in such a terrible mood, and yet get over it and move on. I know myself and how I sometimes get in a funk – it would have been so easy to just spend the day sulking, or doing something silly like eating cookies or chocolate to cheer myself up. Bad move! What I needed was just to get revved up again, and I did it in a totally healthy (and good for my career) way.

Now: time to check off “write blog post for today.”

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5 thoughts on “Turn the Day Around”

  1. I’ve been an insomniac for as long as I can remember, so I’d give anything for a first sleep yet alone a second!!

    I do think if I was in complete darkness it would help. I try to make my bedroom as light free as possible, but it’s hard living on the 15th floor of a building in the middle of NYC. The shades let in a tiny bit of light…I’ve blocked all my clocks/cable box lights though haha

    The second sleep idea sounds nice, but I think a GOOD 8 hours of sleep a night in a row would be enough for me…maybe one day!

  2. Katherine, I have a ton of really incredible blackout sleep masks that I picked up at a hotel where I used to stay. I always travel with them and now I’ve even gotten in the habit of leaving them at home, so I don’t have to close the curtains or otherwise darken the room. They are awesome! If we ever meet up in person, I’ll bring you one 🙂

    Laura – liking it so far. We definitely have to plan a weekend for you to visit!

  3. I love “To Do” lists…I actually have multiple ones going right now which probably defeats the point some how.

    Anyway, no hairdryer?!? ridiculous!

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