There's so much going on in this picture. Luna's wearing her graduation dress to watch a movie while cuddling her lovey in one hand and Luca in the other. He's fighting off sleep with all his might. Oh, and they're casually using their hospital blanket to stay warm in the mostly above-grade basement on an 80-degree day.
Closed on Thursdays
This one's for everyone currently contemplating how hard they're pushing.
I spent most of the 2010s at one CrossFit gym. At some point, an actual CrossFit Games athlete bought the place. One of her first moves as the new owner was closing the gym on Thursdays.
I was super confused. You buy a business and immediately give yourself less time to deliver the product? When I asked her about it, she didn't skip a beat: "If I don't force the rest, no one will take it. Especially you." 😳
Years later, a Casey Neistat video stuck with me. He ran ~3+ miles a day for 730 days straight, and his whole theory was that it's easier to do something every single day than x# of times per week. Daily is binary. There's no negotiation. You keep the streak alive, or live with the shame of letting it die.
I bought in. The first five months of 2026 have been one of the most consistent stretches of my life. A 5K ~every morning at 5:30am, weekends & vacations included. I mostly conquered the post-kids-bedtime sugar binge I'd been losing to for years. I've been chipping away at my goal of 4 million steps in 2026.
Then this past Tuesday, I woke up and couldn't put any weight on my right leg.
On Saturday night, I thought I'd be cute and bank 17,000 steps while staying up late to watch the Knicks win the NBA Finals. Sunday was a regular day.
During my workout on Monday, I hopped on the calf extension machine while waiting for the hamstring curl machine to open up. I ultimately pushed myself to failure on both, because why not?
The bill came due on Tuesday... But the writing was on the wall well before that.
As some of you reading may already know, Dia's mom and brother have been here since the beginning of the month. Within 48 hours of their arrival, we were at Costco loading up on all the things we never keep in our home: cakes, cookies, chips, and chocolate-covered everything. I was munching between every meal and at night. I also did my best to stay up "late" to watch the NBA Finals and World Cup matches with them. My regularly scheduled programming was definitely suspended.
I tried to keep the streak alive anyway. The binary mindset doesn't do nuance; it just wants to check the box. So I ran, I lifted, I made light of calf extensions while waiting on the hamstring curls, and my body finally did what I wouldn't: It called for Thursday.
My old CrossFit coach was right to force rest on us. I'm not pushing through or questioning it this time. Dia's family is here through the end of the month, and we're doing a staycation the first week of July. I'll be intentionally taking it easy until then.
This silly calf injury cleared my calendar at the exact right moment. When I get back into the swing of things, I think I'll build in actual rest days.
✌🏽&❤️