Thursday, October 20, 2016

Round Reflection: Golfing Pregnant!

So last week, thanks to my sitter from the summer being home from school due to the terrible flooding in North Carolina from Hurricane Matthew, I got to golf for the first time in months.

And I had an INCREDIBLE time.


That's not to say I golfed my best. Far, far from it. Partly that's because I'm so out of practice. But it's mostly because I'm seven months pregnant.

Seven months. Third trimester. The home stretch. And I thought it would be fun to try to get my shoulders and hips to twist in opposition to each other several times in a row so I could bang a small white ball around with sticks in a park for a couple hours.

Seriously though, I had a blast. I chose a new course that I've never played before which was very pretty and incredibly playable. And I learned a lot about how the game has to be modified with a giant beach ball around your middle. I've decided to make the most of this round for the blog by spreading these lessons out (hey, I'm starved for rounds right now which means getting creative with content).

So the first lesson I learned is: mindset really matters.

Pictured here is my score card. On the very first hole, I made sure to write my golf mantra in big, bold letters: THERE ARE NO DIAPERS HERE.

An obvious statement, sure. But every golfer needs to have a personal reason why they are at the course, and this one is mine. Golf is my "me time," and my "me time" is precious and only getting more sparse. Plus, it's gotten me through some really tough patches in the past.

The other thing I wrote is,  I GET TO PLAY GOLF.

The key words there are "get to."

If you really want to change your life, replace any sentence that is about "having to" do something to "getting to" do it. It immediately changes the task from an obligation to a privilege. It helps shift your thinking to being grateful for all the opportunities in life. I really tried instilling this ethic into my team when I was a coach, and I found that the best way to do it was to live it myself. And so I'm trying to do that as a parent, too.

You'll notice on my scorecard that I doubled and tripled the first two holes. That was pretty indicative of my day, and it actually took me about 14 holes to figure out how to manage my physical condition so I could play well. Despite that, I am so proud of the 98 I scored, because it took hard work to play while pregnant, and more importantly, I GOT TO PLAY!

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

I get to golf tomorrow thanks to hurricane Matthew, of all things

Photo: Nasa.gov

The universe must have read my last post and done some shuffling for me.

I get to golf TOMORROW!

My baby sitter's university in North Carolina has been closed since hurricane Matthew, and so she's home this week.

I am very excited, but also trying hard not to forget that my fortune comes at the cost of many thousands of lives being upturned due to the catastrophic flooding in North Carolina. Flooding that is only getting worse in many places as rivers keep rising from water entering upstream. I can't imagine the panic and desperation those citizens must be experiencing as they've lost the comfort of their homes (or were trapped at home) and scrambled to safety.

So I've made sure to donate to flood relief, particularly the Food Bank of Eastern and Central North Carolina.

Because Matthew devastated Haiti as well, I've also made a donation to UNICEF for their relief efforts, too.  It will take them much longer to recover from this crisis and conditions there make it an uphill battle. Giving money is the least I can do.

Karma certainly cannot be bought, but I am one to recognize that sometimes even small opportunities come at the cost of the suffering of others. In this case, that cost is extremely large. So I am thankful for this opportunity and promise the universe I won't squander it.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

I have been gone, and not golfing

It has been weeks, nay, months, since my last round of golf. The league has finished for the year and I was unable to play in even one championship round. It was a combination of things, but mostly not having a baby sitter. We also had friends visit, or went out of town ourselves, or I had doctor's appointments for this growing baby.

The baby. It's HUGE already. Or I am, at least. He's so active in there that he might come out super tiny from all his calisthenics (he is insanely active).  At first I didn't believe whomever told me that you get larger with your second pregnancy, but it is SO true. I didn't really gain a lot of weight early on like I did the first time, but I have truly popped this last month to the point where I think I'm as big now at only 7 months as I was when my first was "fully cooked." Oh well. My mindset about weight gain and pregnancy is that there is only so much you can control -- you can do everything "right" and still feel like you're doing wrong, or everything "wrong" and be just fine. And now that I've experienced a second pregnancy that has been so different from the first, I definitely know that for 40 weeks my body is doing what it needs to and I'm just along for the ride.

So much happened since my last post. The legendary Arnold Palmer passed away, and the Ryder Cup was won by the Americans in thrilling fashion. And like my actual golf game, life just kept me away from my laptop to comment.

I will say again, though, that anyone who watched the Olympics and also watched the Ryder Cup knows that match play would make the Olympics WAY better. The rivalry was intense and so much fun to witness.

The hardest part about not playing golf for so long is how guilty I feel about it, which is a weird thing to feel. It's like neglecting an old friend, saying you'll "call her soon," but not doing it. I was so happy for those few months this summer that I was getting to play not just occasionally, but weekly, but as soon as it became clear that life was taking back control, I felt so ashamed. Not to mention that I had such high hopes of being a competitor in my league, which didn't pan out at all.

So who knows if I'll get to play in this gorgeous fall weather? I certainly hope to. While I might take golf for granted, she doesn't ever turn her back on me and will always be there when I can make time.