Better in 2024: November

Somehow it's the last Monday of the month (I swear that the months go by faster as we get later in the year), and that means it's time for a monthly check-in with my One Little Word. Thanks, as always, to Carolyn for hosting our monthly link-ups!

Over the course of the past week or so, I've really been checking in on myself and thinking about how I'm feeling relative to the beginning of the month. Because the start of November was hard, no matter how you look at it. I was still coming to grips with my injury and trying to figure out not only how to get around and manage my day-to-day activity but also how to continue to stay active and continue to get the amount of exercise I've gotten used to getting every day and how to change what that looks like now that certain types of activities are limited. Then there were all of the emotions surrounding the election and the ugliness of the campaign. On top of all that, it's been a really busy month at work, with unexpected high-profile projects in addition to the stress of putting together the commencement program.

The good news is that I feel like I'm in a better place as we approach the end of November. Physically, I'm definitely seeing an improvement. The swelling and bruising on my foot are both nearly gone, and it feels much less scary to stand with my boot off when I take a shower (really the only time I take it off). There is still slight tenderness where the break was, but I feel like I can stand more or less normally on my right foot, whereas at the beginning of the month, I was afraid to put any weight on the outer edge of it. And while it's a very poor substitute for getting outside to run or walk, I've been exercising every day by doing various chair aerobics workouts on YouTube in addition to lifting some light weights and getting back into the habit of doing crunches and pushups to work my upper body and core more. I'm moving around much better with the boot on, too, which is a great thing because I still have some bruises from bumping into things from the early days when my balance was off.

Mentally and emotionally, I'm also feeling better. I'm still concerned about what will happen starting next January, but I think I've gotten to a place of acceptance in the sense that I know it's all going to happen and I can't stop it. As I often told Molly when she was younger, you can't control the actions of others, but you can control how you react to them, and that's pretty much the approach I'm taking now. There will be people with much more influence and pull who will be focused on doing things like going to court over problematic legislation and policies, while I can focus on areas where I do have influence and on the good things in my life -- like my new niece, my family, my friendships, and making beautiful things. I guess you could say I've gotten better at acceptance and compartmentalizing. Things may not necessarily be Better, but I can focus on being Better in many ways.