Some days you wake up with the sun in your soul. You skate through the day and the air itself seems to breeze you, and the day, on your way. But some days, they slog and schlep along. You try to scoop them up, to carry them with you but those days just stick and ooze on the pavement. But as one tries to clean and bandage a scrape, you can try and make those stormy, stubborn days a little bit better. I try to put a band-aid on those bad days by throwing myself a self-love soiree. I can’t escape my surroundings but by putting in my AirPods and turning on a song that gives boss lady, sassy energy that we all need in our day-to-day lives, I survive those days. I throw myself a tiny party! And why shouldn’t we all? Sometimes it’s enough for all of us to say, I woke up and breathed today! That was some nice air that passed through my nostrils!

As juvenile and lighthearted as this may sound, I think that letting yourself release tension through a medium that brings you joy is of the utmost importance. Life is stressful, to put it plainly, and giving yourself a moment to release from the pressure and acknowledge all the tiny wins that each one of us has every single day is crucial. A few weeks ago I was walking to practice and my jAm came on. I was bOppin out and dancing as I walked. Unbeknownst to me, there were two football players walking close behind. I carelessly glanced over my shoulder, as one does, and saw them gaping at me. Seriously the look on their faces gave the impression that I appeared as if I had just dropped in from planet iNsAniTy. I was so tired and mentally spent from my day that instead of being embarrassed, I burst out laughing. Much to my surprise, so did they!? The irony of a small cross country runner breaking down in boughs of laughter with two random 6’4″ or 5″ football players is not lost on me. In retrospect, it still makes me giggle. Luckily, I turned the other way right as we stopped laughing so I didn’t have to deal with the aftermath. (I don’t even wanna know what that would involve). So you see my little run in actually connects to the big picture. As we give these little moments of grace and love to ourselves it seems as if we become more willing to extend that same grace to others. If we acknowledge that the people around us are probably trying their best, (which hopefully they are) we become kinder, more empathetic humans. Just as those football players were to me. As the saying goes, if you are kind to life, life will be kind to you, so throwing yourself that little self-love soiree can help you not just survive, but thrive.