I’m So Hungry! Training and Weight Loss
As per the norm, when moving to a new city about seven months ago, I gained about 15 pounds. The issue of stress eating compounded by a lack of training and races due to an impending knee surgery had me break the 190 mark for the first time in 8 years. At 5’7 on a good day, this weight equaled a very bad thing. Deciding to train for a triathlon was a way to force myself to lose some weight but the sheer amount of training appears to make it somewhat difficult. Racing at 170 or lower would make a huge difference but I am struggling to get there despite the 15+ hours of exercise each week. Here are some reasons why:
1. I love carbohydrates. LOVE them. This past week I ate pizza, pasta, and/or bread at almost every meal. I need to figure out how to add more lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables into my diet so that I am full longer and stop eating so much bread. I used to have a meal plan where salad was always available, now lunch consists of peanut butter and jelly 3+ times a week. Something needs to give and it is up to me to make that change. At the end of the day purchasing and bringing more salads to work should help me get through the day.
2. Working in student affairs is also a difficulty. We have programs and events almost everyday and you can’t have a program without food. Healthy food is generally not on the menu and when you do get healthy options they are usually just carrots and dip. Candy and other sweets are usually available at a moments notice and throughout the day very hard to regulate. Since I control the food in one area I need to make sure that I provide healthy options not only to control my diet but to help students make good choices as well.
3. Calorie overcompensation is probably the biggest issue in my world. Not only am I super hungry after a long or hard training session, I tend to eat poorly and eat a lot. While I may feel hunger like Michael Phelps after a 30 mile bike ride, I do not even come close to burning the same amount of calories he does in training. It is also unhelpful that calorie monitors on apps and in gyms are horrible. They overestimate your calorie burn and add in calories you would have burned remaining sedentary. After a training session I will normally come home and eat whatever I can justifying the caloric intake any way I can. This is only because I am hungry and not because I need it so I need to learn to slow down and let my mind/body balance reconnect and realize I am not as hungry as I think. Also, I need to eat smart and not turn to bread immediately.
These issues have made it really difficult for me to lose weight during training and did the same when I trained for the marathon last year. While my fitness is increasing dramatically, it would be that much better if I was shedding fat as well. At a lower, healthier weight, I will also lower my risk for a repeat injury. As I continue along the last 10 weeks of training, I need to develop the following habits that can stick with me after the race:
1. Eat a healthy breakfast, preferably a smoothie. In a smoothie I can control the calorie levels and supplement my protein intake. Also, since they are cold, it takes longer to consume a smoothie which will allow me to feel full without needing to turn to bread.
2. Buy and eat more fruits and vegetables. Simple but for some reason quite difficult.
3. Substitute salads for sandwiches at lunch. Add some turkey on top of the greens to get protein or even a little cheese but cut out the bread to make a big impact.
4. Drink water then shower after a training run. Hopefully that 15 min delay plus water will help offset the ravenous feelings. Sometimes I think I mistake dehydration for hunger and this should help the issue.
5. Stop eating at every student affairs program. This is a hard one but so necessary. I can try to bring my own snacks so at least I can eliminate desire while still being health conscious.
6. Drink more water overall. The more water I drink, the longer my stomach will be full. This should manage some of my eating habits.
7. Get more sleep. If I am rested I will have more energy throughout the day and will not need to rely so much on food for energy boosts.
8. Keep track of my weight. I am not a daily scale user but once a week at the same time each week will give me a better gauge on progress than my normal sporadic and rare meetings with the scale.
9. Be realistic. I love bread, pizza, and pasta. That will not change. I just need to moderate my intake and keep less trigger foods in the house.
10. Be forgiving. There will be good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks. With a training and food blog there will be days like last Saturday when I eat horribly in San Francisco. This is ok, I just need to make sure I plan to compensate when those days inevitably happen.
If I can stick to the plan I will hopefully hit my sub 170 target weight on race day and be able to keep myself at a healthy level between competitions.
What helps you lose or maintain a healthy weight while training?
One Word 365: Parenthood
A bunch of my student affairs friends posted about this Oneword365 idea. Oneword365 is a concept where you decide on a single word that will dictate your choices and plans for an entire year. This was an intriguing idea, no resolutions, just a word. This word, used as a test for all actions throughout the year; a measure to which your life can be judged. While I am involved in a variety of interests, over this next year there is one thing that must direct my choices. That one thing is my Oneword365: Parenthood.
About midway through this year, Virginia and I will be blessed to welcome our first child into our family. In a twelve month period of huge change, becoming a father will undoubtedly be the biggest. Not just this year but in my entire thirty years. Knowing that in a few months I will be responsible for the wellbeing of another human being is both exciting and terrifying. It is on my mind all the time so it seemed only natural to get out in front of the fear and embrace what will become my most important role in my life. Learning to be a good parent and make decisions outside of myself is critical yet I must make sure that I am a man my children respect and want to emulate.
The following are a few examples in the next year that my One Word, Parenthood, will impact:
1. Health: A parent’s health is essential in the development of healthy children. I want to make sure that my children see a father who is excited about fitness and can achieve goals that they could strive towards. Yes, I love to race in mud runs, and yes I want to prove that I can run marathons and triathlons but now it is something more. I want to be fit so I can run with my kids without getting tired. I want to coach their sports teams. I want them to run, bike, swim, and compete with me. I want them to be at the finish line when I complete an Ironman Triathlon and be proud of their dad. Now it is more than just me and I have a real reason to succeed and stay fit: Parenthood
2. Finances: With our jobs at the UC we are lucky to be able to live comfortable lives. We have been able to travel, fly around, visit family, and by fun presents for each other. We have no will, real financial plan, proper beneficiary set-up, or large levels of cash savings. While I am “cheap” as Virginia will tell you, we do spend a surprising amount of money on non-essential things. This year we need to get smarter about what we do, where we go, and how we spend. We need to meet with a financial planner, get our investments in order, write a will, and reevaluate how we spend our money. Now we even need to start saving for college, yes 18 years in advance. We also need to make sure that we continue to donate to the things we care about to eventually demonstrate to our kids that giving back in time and money is very important.
3. Home Ownership: Should we rent or should we by a house? What is most important for our family in the next 5-10 years? How long will we stay in Merced? Will we be able to sell if we move? These are all questions that can be evaluated against the idea of Parenthood. This will be a huge decision that will come up in the next few months so stay tuned.
4. Parenting Choices: Virginia need to sit down and decide major things about how we want to raise our kids. From observation of others we have seen things that we want to do and things we don’t. in the next few months of this year we really need to talk and thing about major choices when it comes to our kids. Childcare, education, faith, family, discipline…ect. These are all things we need to agree upon before and after the baby arrives. No biggie, right?
These are just a few things that will come up this year and some of the major life choices we need to make. The word, Parenthood, will be first an foremost in any decision that I make and will hopefully allow me to begin this new journey in a positive and impactful way. So here we go with my Oneword365.
Parenthood
2012 in Review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.
A Day to Be Thankful
While you should be thankful for what you have everyday of the year, I think that Thanksgiving provides a great opportunity for reflection and evaluation of where you are in life and how you got there. This year, these are the things I am thankful for and, more importantly, the reasons why:
1. My Health…specifically my health plan: Regardless of your political affiliation of reasons why or how to fix it, it is undeniable that many people can’t access or can’t afford quality health care. This year, I needed knee surgery in order to allow me to continue running and racing for the next few decades. It was important to me and took a lot of appointments, tests, and finally an out patient surgical procedure. After all was said and done, this surgery was done by a quality surgeon and cost me under $100. I am thankful to have an employer that provides me many health care options at extremely affordable prices so that when issues arise I can take care of them without fear. It is my hope that soon all Americans can say the same.
2. My Family…specifically Virginia: With our move up to Merced, CA to work at UCM this summer it is once again apparent that I am lucky to have a partner who is willing to take so many leaps of faith for our future. I imagine that if you would have asked her in her junior year of college if, in four years, she would be packing up and moving to California, she would have laughed in your face. In truth when I was job searching at the end of grad school California was the state she completely rejected. I am thankful that when the time comes to make life path decisions she is open and willing to keep taking these leaps of faith that take us to places and jobs we never expected. I am even more thankful that she never forgets to remind me to stop thinking 10 years down the road and to focus on the present and doesn’t get too upset when I only listen 10% of the time.
3. My Job…specifically doing what I love to do: Not everyone can say with confidence that, in this moment, they are doing exactly what that want to do at work. I am thankful that I have the privilege to come to work every day and do exactly what I want to be doing. I don’t wake up each day dreading what’s to come, I wake up with the opportunity to build a leadership program at a new campus and develop student leaders at every level. I also work for a department and a division that provides flexibility, autonomy, and encouragement for professional development. All three things I need to be happy and successful.
4. Financial Security: While it is true that working in education is not the highest paying gig, we can safely say that we are financially secure. This is extremely important to me since we want to buy a house, start a family, and travel to see our relatives all around the country. I am thankful that Virginia deals with my crazy financial schemes and budgets because, in the end, it helps us do all the things that make us happy. I am even more thankful for our parents and grandparents who have worked hard all their lives to help us establish ourselves and build a life that is happy and healthy. This is something I will not forget and is important for future generations of Lerers.
5. Food: Where we are in life, I am thankful that we can afford to eat every day. Millions of children and adults right here in the country can not say the same. On this Thanksgiving day of socially acceptable overeating this fact is even more apparent. It is the responsibility of those of us who have to give back to those who don’t. No one should have to go hungry today or any day and we can all do our part to help. You can start by donating as little as $5 to my Feeding America donation page. Not only will you feel good about yourself, you will benefit from a portion of my massive list of great restaurants across the country.
So that is my 2012 Thankful list. What are you thankful for? Comment below and tell me why.
Why Knee Surgery is Good For Workaholics
For the past four years (and my whole life) I have been a workaholic and a busybody. Every weekend was something else, a conference, a retreat, or a campus event. Even weekends when we were off I tried to get as much done as possible because who knew when I’d have another free day. I spent those days building furniture, cleaning, hanging stuff, riding and running miles, or going somewhere. Not even vacations were relaxing because they were spent trying to suck as much activities out of the vacation location as possible. Moving to Merced made it even worse. We have been here for three months and I have yet to sit still. Never did it cross my mind to just do nothing; in fact the idea of doing nothing was scary. This weekend changed all of that because knee surgery forced the issue.
For the past 9 months I have needed knee surgery but moving and insurance issues had postponed the procedure. Finally, after almost two months of weekend events at UC Merced, I had a weekend to do the surgery. This past Thursday I went in for a 17 minute procedure that would keep me immobile for 4 days. Though I was really scared going in to the operating room and don’t like the look of my shaved leg, this necessary surgery was a blessing in disguise. Since it hurts to walk and I am sufficiently doped up on Vicodin for the pain, I have done absolutely nothing for the past 72 hours, and it has been glorious.
I got home Thursday at 4:30pm and took over my place on the couch which would be my home until Monday. Bella decided that it would be important to help so she took up residency as well.
So here is what I did since I got home:
Thursday night:
- Ate pizza and garlic bread
- Took pain killers
- Iced knee
- Relaxed on the couch and watched movies
- Woke up, felt dizzy and nauseous…not so fun
Friday:
- Ate leftover pizza
- Took pain killers, many times
- Iced knee
- Dozed on and off
- Watched tons of TV
- Read a book
- Ate Chinese food
Saturday:
- More pain killers, feeling better and very relaxed
- Iced knee
- Ate leftover chinese food
- Watched 12 hours of College Football go RU!!!
- Ate assorted snacks in “Get Better” bag from my office
It was at this point that Bella exhausted herself in her Dad protection mode
Sunday:
- Took off the leg wrap
- Showered!!!
- Took only a few pain killers (Ok, that’s not entirely accurate)
- Walked a little
- Watched 12 episodes of Triple D and more football
- Went out to dinner with Virginia’s Mom and Angel
As I wrap up this recovery with another day of TV on Monday and go back to work on Tuesday I have to say that these were the most relaxing days I have had in recent history. I had no concerns about getting work done, I was not anxious about working out. I knew that physically accomplishing tasks would be impossible so my body just gave in and relaxed (with a little medicinal assistance). I feel so rested and ready to go back to work that it gets me thinking about balance. We talk so often about finding balance but in those conversations it is almost always about finding something else to occupy your time when you are not working. This thing is usually a hobby, an exercise, a sport, or a task but perhaps for balance sometimes all you need is to spend some time doing absolutely nothing. Even if you don’t meditate, a day on the couch with no worries can go a very long way. We shouldn’t feel bad about that and we definitely shouldn’t need to have knee surgery to force the issue.
Here’s to taking some time every so often to just relax and be lazy, it can work wonders. Hopefully you can do it without doctors orders. Good thing though that I might need surgery on my other knee pretty soon. Just something to look forward to.
Join Me in Leaving No Kid Hungry!
After making a few changes to our environmental lifestyle over the past month (Leaving a better planet to our kids) I started to think about how I can start to give back more and have it tie into what I do. I was also getting sort of bored and purposeless with the restaurant reviews so I needed something to kickstart my passion. In her book, Libuse Binder says that before you start to volunteer or donate, you need to figure out what you are interested in. My friend, Ryan McRae (http://geekinafghanistan.com/), has figured out his passion while overseas. He is raising money for Charity:Water, which supplies clean drinking water to people all across the world. Ryan sends donors who give to his page a haiku. To date he has raised close to $3000 for Charity:Water. Inspired by a Facebook chat with Ryan early in the morning on Friday, I figured out how I can do the same.
Thinking about what I love to do…eat, I realized the connection. I have been blessed to be able to eat all around the country at some wonderful establishments and it is time to use that privilege to give back. I also have this coveted list (What is the list?) of over two thousand restaurants from every food show that many people have asked me to share ,so now I can use this list and my food adventures to help others eat.
Everyone deserves to know that they will have food to eat each and every day. Hunger in America is a real problem and one that we can work together to solve. One in six people will go hungry today and in many states one in five children live in food insecure households, which means they do not always know where their next meal will come from. Hunger hinders a person’s ability to be successful in society and hampers a child’s ability to learn in school. If a child goes hungry they are much more likely to suffer from poverty as an adult. I and many people I know grew up never worrying IF there was dinner, merely WHAT was for dinner. It is time for us to work together to combat hunger in anyway we can.
In order to do this, I created a fundraising page with No Kid Hungry. I am hoping to start by fundraising $5000 for the organization that helps children eat every day. Soon I will figure out how I can get involved and give of my time and not just my money.
No Kid Hungry ends childhood hunger by connecting kids to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals. This work is accomplished through the No Kid Hungry network, made up of private citizens, government officials, business leaders, and others providing innovative hunger solutions in their communities. These partners work together, implementing solutions that break down the barriers that keep kids from healthy food.
Through its Cooking Matters program, the No Kid Hungry campaign educates and empowers low-income families to stretch their food budgets so their kids get healthy meals at home. Cooking Matters participants learn to shop strategically, use nutrition information to make healthier food choices, and cook delicious, affordable meals.
The No Kid Hungry campaign works to shine a national spotlight on the crisis of childhood hunger in America, creating a powerful movement of individuals committed to bold action. We build partnerships that enlist influential individuals in the cause and advocate policy changes needed to achieve our goals.
Will you support my virtual food drive today?
Every dollar you give to my virtual food drive helps connect a child to 10 meals. When was the last time your dollar bought 10 of anything? I hope you’ll agree: by coming together, we can help end childhood hunger in America. Give as much as you can — every bit counts!
As a thank you for donating to my Fit Food Fun Fund Page, for each $5 you give I will send you the file containing restaurants from my list for the state of your choosing (LA, CHI, & NYC are stand alone). If you donate $200+ I will send you the entire list (What is the list?). After you donate, just take a look at my state counts page to pick your state and email me your selection at Fitfoodfunfund@gmail.com.
Join me today and let’s do our part to leave No Kid Hungry!
http://join.strength.org/site/TR?team_id=124611&fr_id=1220&pg=team
Leaving a Better Planet to our Kids
What changes can you make to impact your world?
In preparation for the “Think Globally, Lead Locally” themed Leadership Conference at UC Merced, I read the book written by our keynote speaker. “Ten Ways to Change the World in Your 20′s“, by Libuse Binder is a book that provides people interested in making a difference a variety of ways to impact their local and then global community. The ideas she describes range from small and easy commitments to harder and more complicated life changes. In my opinion, the best suggestion in the book was when volunteering, first figure out what you want to do and what you are passionate about. Too many people join causes because they think they have to or because their friends are interested but they are not passionate. She says that for every person passionate about ending poverty there is another passionate about saving the environment. Every single person can make a difference in their passion area and they should not feel guilty about making that choice.
After reading the book I decided to make some small changes to help the environment while I figured out my passion area. I felt like this was a good start because even if you are an animal rights activist, reducing your carbon footprint will help keep the world clean and livable for future generations of people and puppies. Here are some of the changes we have made some of which will both help the Earth and save us money:
1. We reduced the amount of water we use. I decreased the frequency that we water our lawn and tried to decrease show time. I also started to shut off the shower while using shampoo and soap instead of turning the shower head away like I’d done for 20 years. This will save hundreds of gallons of water a month.
2. We raised the temperature 4 degrees on the thermostat to average 80+ degrees throughout the day. This will reduce our energy use significantly and save us some money.
3. We purchased outlet additions that can be switched off in different ways to reduce the energy drain of standby plugs. For example, your TV in the off position and your iPhone chargers unattached to a phone will continue to suck power all day unless unplugged. These outlets attachments from Belkin Conserve will help reduce our energy use and cost even more.
4. We made the commitment to buy carbon offsets annually to help cover the carbon output from our home, car, and airline trips. We used Terrapass.com to add up our carbon footprint and then purchased 35 carbon offsets, which we will do annually. Now we live a “Carbon Balanced” life which means we pay for the carbon we have to use. In order to pay for some off the offsets we now collect and recycle our own cans and bottles. That $5 per month goes directly to our savings for carbon offsets.
5. After reading about how big an impact buying imported food has on the environment we have started to buy more locally sourced fruits and vegetables and in Merced that is super easy. We are also trying to reduce our food waste because discarded food in landfills is a major source of global warming gasses.
6. We put aside $50 per month to donate to a cause of our choosing at DonorsChoose.org
These few small changes will help get us on our way to changing ourselves and soon the people around us. They also make us feel better about who we are as habitants of the Earth. Now we can leave a better world to our kids while working on a college campus to leave better kids to our world. Since we’ve made those changes I have been evaluating what I do with what was the start of this blog; restaurant reviews. With some inspiration from a friend thousands of miles away I think I have figured out a way to make an impact with what I write about on a regular basis. This idea will help me reignite what was a dwindling interest in the posts I was writing weekly in this blog.
What changes can you make to impact your world?
The Ten Commandments of Biking to Work
Over the past few weeks, I’ve ridden my bike to work and around town by desire and necessity. Each day was a new learning experience. I’ve been through sweaty days, crashes, fun rides, and more so the following are my ten commandments of biking to work:
1. Wear your helmet. Wether you have hair or not, you need to wear a helmet. You can fix your hair but you can’t fix your head. You can recover from a fall on the way to work but without a helmet you wont make it in that day.
2. Get a RoadID. This is a great way to get information to first responders if you have an accident and are unconscious or unable to communicate. The best $20 you can spend and you can find discount codes online.
3. Get a $3 ankle strap. You will probably ride in slacks at some point and without a strap you will, without a doubt, get caught in your gears. The straps are also reflective so they can help you at night.
4. Don’t wear your work shirt on your ride. Wear an undershirt or t-shirt on your way in so you don’t sweat all over your work shirt. This will also help cover up any dirt if you happen to fall on your way in.
5. Stock your office with a freshness kit. Deodorant, changes of clothes, cologne, water bottle, and towel. This will help you not stink up the room for the rest of the day.
6. Make sure your supervisor knows you bike to work. This way your supervisor will be a little more flexible with a variable arrival time based on ride time. Your supervisor may also be able to help you find a good place to keep your bike where you know it will be safe.
7. Get to know people at work who have cars. If you have an incident and need a ride to work or help getting to a bike shop, these relationships will be invaluable.
8. Make friends with a local bike shop. If you get to know the owner and the employees they can do work for you quickly since they know you need your bike for transport in and around town.
9. Make sure you ride on safe roads, bike paths are preferable. Narrow roads without a good bike path are not advisable. Especially if you are riding to a university, students drive very fast when they are late to class.
10. If you ride in or home at night make sure you get a good front and rear light set. In the dark it is actually law to have at least a front bike light (Check local ordinances) but many people don’t do it. This is crazy dangerous (I just did it last week and immediately ordered a light) so don’t do it!
If you follow these 10 commandments you will get to and from work every day in a safe a fun way and you will find yourself getting in shape quickly. You will also have a new level of energy for the day and may not need your five shots of espresso in the morning. Not to mention saving tons of money on gas.
Good luck and safe riding!
For some more ideas of riding street smart, check out this website
Two Crazy Weeks
These past few weeks have been intense and the reason why I missed a blog post but now I want to reflect on these crazy two week. On July 14th we took a leap of faith, packed up a truck, and moved 336 miles north to Merced, CA. We had two days to get moved into our new house before I started work as the new Assistant Director of Student Life at UC Merced. Additionally, Virginia was going back down to finish working a UCR so I was left on my own with the dog and without a car. Thus began my adventure in many different ways.
Biking Everywhere
I had not riden a bike since I was 24 but I bought my first road bike and went from 0 miles per week to 50+. The house we are renting is 3.6 miles from campus so round trip is over 7 miles each day. I was prepared for the workout but not for some of the issues that would come along with it.
I wasn’t prepared to ride in slacks each way. The end result of wearing pants were two crashes one messing up my front wheel and I think my bag gear shift (Going to get this checked out soon). Luckily, in order to stave of smelling bad at work, I don’t wear my work shirt, I keep it in my bag until I arrive. Additionally I keep a small towel and a bar of deodorant in my office so even with crashing I didn’t look horrible all day. I also didn’t properly treat my wounds so of course I got two infections which landed me in urgent care for antibiotics. Thank god people are nice at work and helped me get my bike fixed no questions asked.
What I was able to do was rearrange my office so I can bring my bike right inside. This was great because it saved me time since I did not have to lock it up anymore and I could leave my heavy lock at home. I also wouldn’t be worried that my bike would disappear somehow during the day.
The hardest part were errands and deliveries. In order to get things set up I had to ride all around town to Best Buy, Lowes, Target, Post Office, and more. This sometimes added 10 miles at night which made the next morning a little harder. Also, some of the places I needed to go closed at 6pm so I had to swing home, walk the dog, change, and go right back out. It was also very interesting to go grocery shopping with only one backpack. It really makes you think critically about what you really need.
Renting a Home
We decided that we had enough of apartments so we luckily found a great 1850sqf house with a fenced in backyard. The problem was this meant that we had to furnish the entire house all in one shot because we own nothing. This came along with many deliveries, lots of building, and garbage, so much garbage. Some of these deliveries were wrong and now we have to wait for the correct replacements and some were just a complete mess.
Our dryer didn’t work the first time they delivered but since they did not bring a voltmeter the delivery crew assumed it was the dryer and took it away. Since the next delivery day was August 13th, we decided to go get one and hook it up ourselves. Now, I thought that it just plugged in but no, you have to install a four pronged outlet. Turns out I had no idea what I was doing and dropped a screw inside the drier. Thankfully the Associate Director of my office and her husband are super friendly and volunteered to help me. With all of our heads together and two, eight mile bike rides to Lowes we were able to get it hooked up, only to discover that it was the outlet that was broken, not the dryer. Argh!
Adding to the dryer issue there were so many little and larger issues with our house. From cleaning, to power, to hot water, I ended up sending our landlord a huge list of “Fix me now”. Thankfully they are very responsive and made all the repairs within a few days. Somewhat frustrating that these issues were not addressed prior to moving in but at least they are all fixed and we can settle into our house. Now we just need to wait for the rest of our couches and our correct dining room table.
New Job, New Campus, New People
Most people know that I am a self-assured person but I was really intimidated by this job on day one. I think all the stress, pressure, and change got to me and I was terrified that I wasn’t good enough to be successful. I felt like they wanted the sun, moon, and stars but only got me. It was a really odd and new feeling and not one I like very much. This resulted in me having a complete meltdown on my first night after realizing that I would be all alone the next day and the house was a mess. In the end I just needed to sleep and calm down a lot.
This was all compounded by some complete idiocy in HR back at UCR. For some reason my HR manager in housing didn’t process my transfer so I lost all my vacation, sick, and service credits, was unenrolled in my health care benefits, and my flexible spending card was shut off. I spent days trying to fix the issues and it was just a nightmare. Thankfully I didn’t lose my final UCR paycheck which would have been ridiculous. I wish when people don’t know what to do they ask for help instead of doing nothing, which is what obviously happened here.
As I finished up my second week I began to realize that I can do this and my knowledge and experience will set me up for success. Even when my job expanded in the first three days, it was only more chances to learn, develop, and grow. I will have so many opportunities at UCM to do what I love, develop leaders. I also am working with an energetic and friendly team and though I am sure there will be issues here and there, I am prepared to jump in with both feet. Good thing too because I have three retreats and two conferences to plan and implement before the end of September. Trial by fire!
Overall
Change is HARD!!! I never thought how difficult and scary it would be to move off campus for the first time in seven years compounded by a new job in a brand new city. At the end of these crazy two weeks my fear has been replaced with excitement and a more reasonable level of anxiety. I really believe that this was the right move for Virginia, Bella, and I. A great step to move us into the next chapter in our lives. While I will miss the friends I made at UCR, I can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store for us at UCM!
