getting out of my comfort zone

my comfort zone is most definitely my home. most weekends, we spend our time at home. watching tv, getting take out, sitting on the couch. it's not that I don't enjoy being at home. it is comfortable, that's why I almost never branch out and do something new. especially with our dog. my husband and I always have such immense guilt leaving him at home alone when we could be with him.

this weekend, I focused a lot on getting out of my comfort zone. we had something planned for virtually every moment of the weekend. on saturday, we went to our city's local puppy bowl. we started at the human society, where vendors were set up. my dog got a couple of free toys and we looked at all the amazing local shops for dogs. then, it was on to the main event. our dog was competing in quarter three of our city's puppy bowl. the object of the game to to get one of the many football toys over one of the two goal lines. he played for the blue team, and made absolutely no touchdowns. instead, he spent his time running around the area asking for pets from all the people. none of the players in his round were particularly competitive, but they were all very cute. before I put him in the ring, I was so anxious. I don't even know why. I guess I was afraid of leaving him alone and of how he would react. but he was perfect, and he thrived with all the people paying attention to him. after his amazing success at the puppy bowl, we went home and gave him a bath, ate, and headed out to meet friends for a game night.

this was our first time at a board game oriented restaurant. despite the small portions of the food, we had so much fun. we tried a few games and chatted about life. my favorite game was called "clover." it was like a much less intense code names.

in the morning, we met friends for pickle ball. this was our first time ever playing pickle ball. my husband, being the athletic oriented person that he is, had a lot of fun. he really got into it. me, I barely played. honestly, I think I have a problem with depth perception, because I can never tell where the ball is and I always end up hitting the air. hopefully all my non-athletic girlies can relate.

after, we went a got bagels with our friends at a restaurant we'd never tried. after a long nap, we went and picked up our grocery order and bought food for our dog. we ended the weekend with our valentine's date and watching the super bowl (aka rihanna's concert).

this weekend was so out of the norm for us. in many ways it was good, but it also meant that on monday I woke up exhausted, groggy, and nauseous, and I was late to office hours. the house hadn't been tidied and the laundry hadn't been done. even though this weekend was amazing, it was also true that I felt completely unprepared for the week ahead. monday slammed into me like a ton of bricks.

I guess the issue here is balance. I have to learn to balance all of these activities with the things that I need to have a successful week. not getting tasks done weighs on me and makes it hard for me to feel at peace and truly prepared for the week ahead. doing these tasks during the week makes it feel as if the previous week is following me. I enter the new week with obligations looming over me.

however, I don't regret going out of my comfort zone at all. all of the things we did this weekend were amazing. I made memories, something I never would have done sitting at home. in the future, I know that these are the times I will look back on fondly. I just hope that next time I can allocate my time more efficiently and find a balance.