New Coffee Check-In: #DailyCalm

Happy Monday, Y'all!

Taking the time for myself these last few weeks has been incredible. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and what transpired surpassed my expectations - and I'm so grateful.

I'll be going into that in more depth in a blog later this week, but for now, welcome to the new Coffee Check-Ins! A recent meditation, along with the experience of the last few weeks, helped bring this new idea to light.

Usually, I meditate in the evenings before bed, a practice I will continue; however, I'll also be utilizing the Coffee Check-Ins for some meditation reflection. My hope and goal in this change is to create a more streamlined and intentional thought process first thing in the morning and hopefully help others start their day with tranquility, reflection, and insight.

Brief background on my meditation journey; especially with my ADHD brain, I never thought meditation would be something I would find peace in practice. Luckily, I have a fantastic husband who is relentless in his pursuit of being a better athlete, coach, and human being (although he's pretty fan-fucking-tastic, in my opinion, it's one of the things I love about him - his constant growth!). I will also give credit where credit is due and say that my therapist and I did several meditation sessions together when I started working with her. I'm also a sucker for good audio/radio voices, and Tamara Levitt with Calm is just perfect for what I needed to start a practice. My husband utilizes HeadSpace, and seeing how positively his practice impacted him in the first six months, I decided to go all in the Christmas of 2020 and purchased the lifetime Calm membership (they also have an awesome deal around the holidays where the cost is about 40-50% off its regular price, and having received some cash as a gift, I went for it). I've been practicing as often as possible, whenever I can and need, and even utilizing the 'Sensory Alignment' playlist when my brain is a beehive of ADHD thoughts. I've missed days, had record streaks lasting nearly a year, gotten down on myself for forgetting, and meditations have inspired so many different thoughts, emotions, and revelations. So I look forward to sharing this experience and hearing how meditation helps you.

Two days ago the Daily Calm Meditiation was about forgetting time. Which is something I enjoyed during my strategic organization time away from writing these check-ins. I rested, I rode my bike (despite the god-awful heat), worked out, baked, spent loads of quality time with my husband, and worked when I needed and wanted. I barely looked at my planner. And I enjoyed... everything for the first time in a long while. As the Tamara wraps up in the meditiation, "forgetting about time can significantly contribute to our joy in life." She goes on to read a quote by Jospeh Campbell stating, "What did you do as a child that created timelessness? That made you forget time? There lies the myth to live by."

I realized that what I had been focusing on and putting my energy towards these last few weeks did in fact remind me of things I enjoyed as a kid; being outside, being active, pushing myself, experimenting in the kitchen with flour and sugar and butter everywhere, spending time with the people - person - I love most in the world. Experiencing this and then listening to the meditation has helped my confidence in knowing what I want from life moving forward, and I'm excited to be able to experience and enjoy it!

If you listened to this meditation from August 12th on the Calm App, how did the theme of forgetting time resonate with you? What feelings and emotions did it bring up?

One of the things I spent a lot of time doing these last few weeks was returning to one of my favorite childhood activities - baking. I made several cheesecakes, loafs of bread, and yesterday I tried my hand at making a gluten-free cheese danish for the first time! It needs some work, but I'm incredibly happy with the first turnout! Plus I haven't had a danish in FOREVER, so to be able to make one myself and have it taste good - yeah. Pretty damn happy!

Unfortunately, in the time I took away from here, I was NOT able to get my ADHD prescription sorted out 😔 Luckily I have a doctors appointment Wednesday, and I'll be calling my insurance today to get a list of approved ADHD medications so we can stop playing this guessing game - hopefully they'll accomodate me with the list rather than having to be prescribed every ADHD med under the sun before we know what is actually covered by insurance. All that to say, my coffee this morning is a Nespresso Half-Caffeinato with my usual Oatmilk and FourSigmatic Think Creamer to help me stay energized, but not overly caffeinated to spin my ADHD brain out of control!