21 Day Challenge: Day 1

If you do not know the 21 Day Challenge, then scroll down. It will explain everything.

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DAY 1

Well it was the first day and it opened with a doozy. Friday is my cleaning day and so most of my Friday mornings are unshowered, sweating and cleaning a mess that we pigs (noticed I included myself) had created during the week.

The past few Fridays, Shaeler has been having her reading lessons on and so I would stop in the middle of cleaning, take her to grandma's to read and then drop her off to school to resume my morning srubbing.

As I am driving out of the neighborhood, I see neighbors walking or driving by and so I smile and wave. Easy, it's a slam dunk way to be nice and a very brief interaction. When from the back seat I hear a voice, "Mommy, why are you waving to those people?"

Hmm....how do I explain this to a 4 year old?

I proceed to tell her that mommy wants to be nice and that means waving to people and saying hello. And so for the majority of the car ride, Shaeler has her hand out the window waving and saying hello to every car we pass by. Oh, she is following her mother's example!

Grandma greetings were grand and we hop back in the car to realize that Shae had been there 2 hours and would be over an hour late for school. So, I call her father and he invites us to join him with the guys for lunch at Subway. Sweet I think. I know the guys, easy conversation, they don't care that I have no make up or my hair is a mess and I am running around in my cleaning duds. So to Subway I steered my vehicle.

This is the moment that I SHOULD have had some voice tell me to drive home, alas it never came. As I pulled into Subway, the place was packed with people.

Oh NO!!

Rule #1 to the 21 Day Challenge: Always take a shower and clean up for the day. Trust me, it has a lot to do with the confidence in approaching people.

Today Subway was having their Grand Opening and the Mayor and his associates of the city were there to honor the occasion. Also business men and realtors that I have known were in attendance too. Oh joy!

So, with my unshowered, messy, no makeup 21 day rear, I nod, smile and say hello to people. Please don't let the Mayor see my straggly hair. I did the best I could to be polite and a little out going, but I was also there to eat. I said hello to the guys and then I drove home, humiliated.

Tonight I had Bro C's class and about an hour before, I had a huge wave of depression take over me. The thoughts where you just want to stay in bed, shut the blinds and try to pretend the outside world doesn't exist, kind of moment. I was laying in bed when the thought hit me, "who will benefit from me having a negative attitude?" And so I hopped out of bed, into the shower and proceeded the night with as many handshakes and conversations that I could get in. During this event, Brian and I were asked to say the prayers for the evening, which complete panic attacks over come me. Praying in public!!! Hello Mr. Anxiety!

However, I reminded myself that I was just saying my prayers to the big guy as I always do and he is the only one really listening to me anyways, so just get up and pray.

My good friend Christy sat next to me during class and then afterwards we chatted so when I left the building, there were no more hands to shake.

Day 1 complete! It was great! It was interesting, and I learned some good lessons. Let's see how Day 2 goes. (knock on wood.)