Healthy Stress- Busting

This was my first full week back at work after a glorious two- week vacation. It’s summer and the schedule’s been light, but there’s still lab results and paperwork to catch up with. And, we had the orientation for the first year medical  student interviewing and communications skills course I help teach. 

So when my Thursday home with the kids rolled around, I felt guilty. 

And, the news. Lord, the news. Horror after horror, heaps of hate and ignorance and violence, and I’m not only referring to the Republican National Convention. 

We protect our kids from the news nowadays. We also want to model for them how to manage stress and anxiety, how to clear the mind of noxious thoughts and negative emotions. They’re going to need those skills. 

And so we headed to a nearby bike trail for some scientifically sound, evidence- based, free and effective medical treatment. 

These kids blew me away. They are essentially novice bicyclists (these “real” bikes are brand- spanking new). It was 88 degrees and sunny, and they had never ridden bikes for more a few blocks. 

They biked a total of 4.5 miles! Midway, there’s a wonderful little watering hole, a fountain park for little ones to run through and cool off. They scooted joyfully in and out of water shoots laughing, so happy, rejuvenated. 

How I SO wanted to scoot through the shoots too (I ran alongside them as they rode). But just watching them,  I felt so much better, knowing we were doing the exactly right thing for a Thursday in July in the world today.