75 Hard Restart Day 8: Back to Reality, Dandelion Wishes & Running on Empty

Restart Day 8.

The next day it was back to work.

Normally, after a trip, I give myself a day to reset.

A day to unpack.

Do laundry.

Rest.

Meal prep.

Get my life back together before jumping back into client appointments.

But all the flight delays, reroutes, and travel changes had eaten up my buffer.

So it was straight back into reality.

Back to Clients

The morning started with in-person clients.

And because I hadn't had any opportunity to meal prep after getting home, breakfast ended up being Starbucks.

Again.

I know Starbucks shows up in these blogs a lot.

But there’s a reason.

When life gets chaotic, I already know what works there.

I know what fits my goals.

I know what I can grab quickly.

And sometimes reducing decision fatigue is a form of self-care.

So Starbucks it was.

Lunch Break at Pena Adobe

After my morning clients, I headed over to Pena Adobe Park for my lunchtime workout.

And it felt magical.

One side of the sky was bright blue.

The other side was dark with thunderclouds.

Lightning off in the distance.

A little rain.

A little sunshine.

And floating through the air were thousands of dandelion seeds.

Not snow.

Not rain.

Just little white wishes drifting through the wind.

It was one of those moments that felt almost unreal.

Normally I would have pushed myself up the hills.

But my body wasn't having it.

The travel.

The lack of sleep.

The airport marathons.

The flights.

My legs were done.

So instead of forcing it, I stayed on the flatter paths around the lake.

And that felt like the right choice.

More Clients + Dinner with Friends

After two more clients, it was time to meet friends for dinner.

We went to Nick the Greek.

And I ordered:

• chicken gyro bowl

• half rice

• half vegetables

Simple.

Filling.

Easy.

At this point, I was still trying to recover from almost two full days of travel.

One Last Workout

After dinner, I taught my 6:30 Zoom workout.

Full body.

And while the workout itself went great...

I was running on fumes.

The kind of tired where your body is moving but your brain is somewhere else entirely.

Running on Empty

By the end of the night, I was struggling.

Not with motivation.

Not with desire.

Just exhaustion.

I still had water left to drink.

I still had pages left to read.

And I felt my eyes getting heavier with every passing minute.

But after restarting this challenge, I knew exactly what happens when I leave things unfinished.

So I sat down.

Finished my pages.

Finished my water.

And then pretty much fell asleep immediately afterward.

What I'm Noticing on Restart Day 8

One thing I've learned over the years is that exhaustion and laziness are not the same thing.

Sometimes you're not unmotivated.

Sometimes you're simply tired.

Travel tired.

People tired.

Schedule tired.

Life tired.

And I think that's important because so many people beat themselves up for needing rest.

The masculine energy in us wants to push forward.

Keep producing.

Keep performing.

Keep checking boxes.

The feminine energy reminds us to listen.

To recover.

To pay attention.

To honor where we actually are.

We need both.

Because if all we do is push, eventually the body pushes back.

And if all we do is rest, eventually we stop moving toward the things we want.

Alignment lives somewhere in the middle.

Today wasn't about crushing goals.

Today was about keeping my word to myself while honoring the fact that I was still recovering from a pretty wild travel adventure.

And sometimes that's enough.

Restart Day 8 Complete

Thunderclouds.

Dandelion wishes.

Greek food.

One very tired coach.