Honestly, California has been great in so many ways. May has adjusted fabulously well, and everyone at the new barn has been incredibly friendly and accommodating. During an after-ride hack on Saturday, I even noticed that May has gotten pretty shiny, despite her winter coat almost grown in.
Since my last post, I took a jumping lesson where May was hoof-perfect and we cruised around a 2’3″ – 2’6″ course including a one stride line. She felt great, and I felt pretty confident too. Last week, May got her first California-style pro ride, and she… pretended she knew absolutely nothing. Oh well, they worked through it, and she felt WONDERFUL for our next ride.
So why haven’t I been blogging about these great and fun things?
I’m not entirely sure. Part of it is definitely struggling with my new schedule. I work 5AM – 2PM PST, so while I can get to the barn early (yay! because it gets dark here SO EARLY), it also means that I am in bed by 7:30PM most nights. Moving into a new house, cleaning, and getting settled into it has taken up so much of my mental power and energy that riding really has fallen more by the wayside. I’ve been struggling to get up to the barn even 3 days a week when I really need to be there at least 4 days to keep May in a good schedule.
I’m trying to be gracious with myself. May is doing great (shiny and fat on just a lot of forage). Lessons have been fun and productive. Exploring the area has been a ton of fun. But part of me is also really struggling with prioritizing it all right now. I keep telling myself that after Thanksgiving, things will fall into more of a status-quo, but part of me just wants to take that time to sleep haha.
So blogger friends, how do you pull yourself out a rut and get back to it?
I don’t have any of your excuses and I’m struggling too. Last week (the week before? They’re all blurring together) I had an OK ride on Saturday but Nay just had too much energy, then it rained on Sunday and well, I decided I just couldn’t ride. I’d ride Monday. Monday? It was windy. I think I finally dragged myself out on Tuesday not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. Once Nay and I are at the barn? We’re fine. But the act of driving a whole 3 minutes is just TOO MUCH sometimes. I’m completely exhausted and run down for no reason other than it’s dark and winter and I struggle this time of year. When I ride? I feel good. It’s just finding the motivation to do that??? I only imagine it’s harder when you have to start working at 5am. If you find a magic solution, let me know, but right now I’m thinking setting 2020 on fire and then drowning it and starting over next year might be the best option.
ugh this is so much me right now. So glad you are suffering too (HA Love that my friend is suffering with me yeah I am a bitch! HA). I do think moving esp to a new time zone is exhausting. So give yourself some slack!! Also winter even in CA the light deficiency is huge, I am sure by Spring you will be back at it with a vengeance. 5 am is EARLY to work. Jeez. May is happy and fat, 3 days a week is fine for now!!
yeah the light deficiency is a MUCH bigger issue than it was in KY. It is DARK by 5PM, which just makes life tough tbh.
It’s 2020. Sometimes just getting thru the day is enough.
Ain’t this the truth 🙂
This time of year is really hard for me personally. Between the cooler weather and less daylight hours, I’ve always struggled with SAD. It’s just really hard to stay motivated and even harder to do anything but sleep. I’m not currently riding due to being 8 1/2 month pregnant, but when I find myself struggling to get to the barn this time of year, just making myself go makes me feel a lot better. Not to say that with all of the life changes you’ve dealt with lately that you shouldn’t take time to rest too. But when I feel particularly stuck and I know I’ll feel better if I just ride, I make myself go to the barn even if I really don’t want to and I always feel better afterwards.
yeah. I think part of it is just powering through, so I don’t feel like I am having the same ride over and over again.
I think you just have to give yourself some time to adjust to all the new. You’ll find the schedule that works best for you all in good time. Be kind to yourself! I’m glad things are going well though!
This is so true. I wanna just be “good” hahaha, but really life just goes at its own pace sometimes.
It can be tough when you are adjusting to a new way of life, just be easy on yourself and you’ll get into the swing of things before you know it.
This is true. Just going to take some time to feel like Im back in a good routine again, especially in 2020.