Coffee Talk Tuesday #85

Grab your cup! It’s time for a Coffee Talk Tuesday.

If we were having coffee together this week, I’d tell you that we’re seeing excellent progress on our home reno project! We have this space in the back of the house that was previously a screened-in porch. The owner before us tried to make it more of a 3-seasons room, but the quality of that construction was not so great. We’re making it an actual room, which will be our formal dining space and a sitting area. There’s SO much light in this room, I’m so excited. Part of this project included us getting a new roof (we needed one in the next year or so anyway), and then the whole back wall had to be restructured. We chose new windows and a sliding glass door. It’s such a great space and adds so much to our home! I can’t wait for all the rest of the pieces to come together.

If we were having coffee together this week, I’d tell you that I had quite the Monday. I’m slowly building (actually, I have quite a lot) my fitness equipment stash for the various classes I teach. With adding barre and Buti, there’s more that I will need, especially for barre. I’m teaching a special barre/strength/cardio combo version this week, as part of my Spring into Fitness series, and found light hand weights on sale at Wal-Mart. The closest location that could give me the quantity I needed is in Bowie. Not too bad of a drive from where I live. Since I didn’t teach class on Monday, I decided to head there after work and pick up the weights. Went well, got what I needed, and then I started prepping my bag in my trunk, so I could just grab and go on Wednesday for class. Then, I realized that I left one bag in the store, so I quickly closed my trunk and headed back inside the store. When I came back out, I couldn’t find my keys, and realized that I locked them in the trunk. The really funny part is that I have done this before. 

Keeping my cool, I called a locksmith (and later learned that I could’ve called my car insurance, apparently this is offered as a service) and he told me he could be there in 30 minutes. It was a beautiful day outside, and I got a chance to scroll through insta, reply to emails I hadn’t gotten to yet that day, all was well. It turned out ok, but oh my what a crazy start to the week.

If we were having coffee together this week, I’d tell you that my day brightened on Tuesday when I gave a presentation about the Next Gen Scholars program to the Rotary Club. They do a 50/50 raffle during their meetings and entered me into it as a courtesy. Wouldn’t you know…I won! I tried to donate the money back, but they said it’s not allowed. I’m not sure if it’s a cute trick they play or if it was legitimate luck, but hey! I won! Pretty nifty.

If we were having coffee together this week, I’d tell you about something that caught my eye on insta this weekend:

Let’s pause and consider this for a moment. How crazy is this to think about? A different version of you exists in the minds of everyone who knows you. A different version! You are not you to someone else, you are their version of you. It’s so important to remember this as you have conversations with people, and remind yourself not to get offended at people’s reactions. They see you differently than you see yourself. Social media plays a part in this, of course, and it’s all about perspective.

It reminds me of a conversation I was having not too long ago with a new acquaintance. I was explaining my position with Next Gen Scholars, and got to the part of “it’s part-time, I spend 2 days at this school, and 2 days at the other school.” This individual paused, and asked “so what do you do with all the rest of your working time?” They do not know me outside of the Next Gen world, so of course they don’t know about my fitness business, my writing and web gigs, etc. I had a choice: get offended and start explaining away (something I’m learning NOT to do) about how busy I am, or smile and ask “What do you mean to ask by that?” By asking the question, I can better understand their perspective, or point for asking. It’s so easy to get offended, but remember that everyone comes at each situation from a different place, and with a different set of framing conditions.

How’s your week going?