Bikinis in the Snow Week 3 – Yes!
How many times have you turned down invites or opportunities? For me, I know I have missed out on some great opportunities because I made some type of excuse not to partake.
Yes, some excuses are valid, but other times, maybe I’m worried about being too tired. Maybe I don’t feel like driving across town. In the past, I have turned down events because I don’t want to spend the money, time, or energy.
With busy schedules, we are often quick to say no to things, but this week, things are going to change.
This is the week of “Yes!”. And no, family and friends, you are not allowed to take advantage of that this week. (wink)
Bikinis in the Snow Week 3 Relationship Challenge – Yes!
For week 3 of Bikinis in the Snow, Morry and I are going to say “Yes” to most of the opportunities that present themselves. Let’s see what happens.
Tuesday – What a day! Tuesdays are normally the busiest day of the week for me. It seems that everything happens to be scheduled this day. Often, I skip a few of these things, but today, I decided to do it all.
Since we had phone meeting scheduled at 9am, we knew we’d have to leave Camp Gladiator early. So, I ran there from dropping the kids off. It was about 2.8 miles. Toward the end of my run it started really raining. When I got to the park, Morry was arriving in the car and they told us camp was moved to a church nearby so that we could be indoors. I got in the car and we drove over to the church. We had to leave there around 8:45. There were several times both last night and this morning we debated about going to Camp Gladiator today. We wondered if it was really worth going for only 30 minutes. Then, the rain came and we debated again about having to drive over the new location. But, we said “Yes”! We went were flexible and adapted to the changes.
After the phone meeting, a friend invited me to lunch. Normally, I probably would have said no since I had a busy morning. But, I said “Yes.” I had a nice lunch at Central Market. I’m glad I went.
Next, on the schedule is Pink Ribbon Pilates, for breast cancer survivors, every Tuesday at Ballet Austin. Often, I skip this, but not today. Even in the pouring rain, I drove to downtown and did the whole class. Again, glad that I went.
This afternoon, I was supposed to tutor a student at 5:15. They were stuck in traffic and got to the library about 45 minutes late. They asked if they could still have an hour of tutoring, so I agreed. Although it made my night later, I’m glad I was available to help this student study for her Math test.
Wednesday – I said yes to more things. I don’t usually tutor on Wednesdays, but I had students that wanted to change their day and time for this week. I also went to a Pink Ribbon Cowgirls dinner. I don’t always go to those. I had Noah with me that night and it would make things a little more complicated, but I still said, “Yes”!
I’m glad I agreed to everything. The students needed my help and I enjoyed socializing with other young breast cancer survivors.
Thursday
We said yes to the RBI Now at Bat Benefit 2017.
Rachel
How did I feel before trying this challenge?
I was worried about overdoing it this week. I was also concerned about what I might be asked to do.
How did I feel during the challenge?
I enjoy keeping busy, helping others, and socializing. There was nothing that I regret doing this week. I was very tired on Wednesday though. Thankfully, I did not have anything planned during the day, so I was able to rest.
How do I feel after the challenge?
I am so glad I connected with friends, got more exercise, experienced new things, spent time with my husband, and more.
What did I learn?
Normally, I don’t fit all of that in one week, but now I see that I can. It is good to have a balance of doing things for myself and doing things for others. I just need to be careful not to overcommit myself. I need to be aware that I may need a rest or recharge if I try to schedule too many things in a week.
Morry
How did I feel before trying this challenge?
Saying “Yes” to everything seemed somewhat daunting. What if someone asked me for something crazy? That said, I was excited for it. Too often my first reaction is “no” because I know what I want and like. I think the anticipation was high for this challenge. I think of all the challenges we have done so far, I was most excited for this one.
How did I feel during the challenge?
I felt good. I knew I was going to be doing things that were definitely out of my comfort zone. It was kind of exciting every day wondering how the day was going to end up. I felt a little more out of control of how the day was going to go than I would normally, but not so out of control that it was overwhelming.
How do I feel after the challenge?
After the challenge, I was glad we decided to do it. I would absolutely do it again. I felt like this was a great growing tool and I truly believe it’s something that we should all do.
What did I learn?
Wow, what did I learn? Again, I think this was the best challenge so far. It was definitely the one I learned the most. I learned that saying “yes” is easier than you’d think. And for the most part it turns out well. We went to a charity auction and dinner during the week. It’s probably not something we would have normally done during a week. At this auction, there were quite a few current and former Major League baseball players. Rachel asked me to go up and talk to at least one. I chose a player who had pitched for the Pirates. Evan happens to have one of the bats he used while was on the Pirates. Of course I was nervous to talk to him so I quickly told him about Evan’s bat. But he wanted to talk more. We ended up having a really nice 5-10 minute conversation where he introduced me to his wife and we talked about non-baseball stuff. I would have never guessed he was so nice and so open to just talking to a random person. I’m glad I did it.
I also learned that sometimes you can only say “yes” so many times because there are conflicts between things. I agreed to meet a friend for lunch but I also had said yes to going to Camp Gladiator. If I did both, I wasn’t going to get any work done, so I had to give preference (lunch with my friend) to one and said “no” to Camp Gladiator.
Also, when you have kids, you cannot say “yes” to them all the time. They would absolutely take advantage of things.
This challenge was like a microcosm of the entire Bikinis in the Snow, but it was a good one. It’s just a constant reminder that it’s good to try new things.
Rachel K. Belkin, M.Ed is an Austin, Texas blogger, entrepreneur, speaker, freelance writer, and educator. After selling her lifestyle blog for six figures in 2021, she teaches business, blogging, and influencer marketing strategies that helped her build her business on part-time hours. Bylines include MSN, Associated Press, HuffPost, Medium, NewsBreak, and Hometalk. She has been featured on KXAN, Studio 512, Fox 7 Austin, CBS Austin, and other news and media outlets.
