what about a little consolation on bad days? re-learning how to self-sooth

A lot of our friends have started having babies, and whenever I'm around them (which actually hasn't been that much lately) there is often talk about when to pick up a crying baby and when to just let it cry. The idea behind letting the baby cry being that it needs to learn to calm itself, or "self-sooth." This is something I'm finding I've forgotten how to do without the television.

This week has been pretty good largely because I've had pretty good workouts all week. I've hit the paces I've needed too and I've recovered pretty well. But by Friday I was pretty wiped out mentally. I had a hard swim workout in the morning, and then a hard run in the afternoon. I was just tired of pushing so hard, and when I got to the run, I had psyched myself out. I felt slow and negative, so I ended up cutting the run short and skipping the challenging part altogether. That put me in a bad mood. I was disappointed in myself, and feeling very sulky. Usually when I'm in that place, I'll grab a gigantic mug of chocolate milk, make some popcorn (or another comparable comfort food), sit down in front of the TV, and watch Community or 30 Rock, or some other light and funny show. I'll laugh to myself, "oh Abed, you and Troy are so silly," and I'll feel all better. Works like a mother's kiss on a boo boo. But last night, I came back from my run, all ready for that kind of consolation only to realize that Abed, Troy and I were no longer on speaking terms. No more Community, no more 30 Rock, nothin'. I stood there and stared at my computer for about 2 minutes.

What do I do now? This sucks. Emily won't be home for another half an hour, I could watch just one show. Even if she comes home early, I could give her the puppy dog eyes - and everything will be fine.

By the grace of God, I was able to just turn on the music and go stretch on the floor. I usually start by putting my feet up on the wall for about five minutes to let the lactic acid from the workout drain from my muscles. Last night I did that for about 20 minutes. I just laid there continuing to run that conversation through my head. Finally Emily walked through the door, and I had some accountability. It was like I couldn't move from that state, cause if I did, my next move would be back to the computer to put something on Hulu. Disaster averted.

After that I got up, took a shower, and Emily and I embarked on a culinary journey to India, where we made - without recipe, mind you - a yellow curry/pineapple sauce filled with all kinds of chicken/veggie goodness that would bring a smile even to the biggest baby (me). Even Emily was a little perplexed with what we should do with the evening, as many of our Friday nights involve snuggling up on the couch eating dinner and watching the shows from the week on Hulu. Instead we talked, ate, played some chess (riveting), and went to bed at a reasonable hour... Ok so the food was the highlight. We'll have to find something a little less 1955 to do with our Friday nights, but it was still a good night, and we made it through a Friday night without Television. BOOYAH.

Today's temptation rating: 8.9

Days without incident: 12