I just made a batch of chewy oatmeal, lemon, walnut and date cookies to eat for breakfast this week!

The recipe is from Forks Over Knives, and it’s made with whole grain oats and no refined sugars. It’s actually healthy, and not incredibly cookie like except for the soft, chewy texture that keeps it from being in the “power bar” category despite its similar ingredients. It’s healthy tasting enough so one of my kids won’t even eat it (I think I lost him when I didn’t add chocolate chips) which means more for me.

I’ve been looking for a fast breakfast that I can enjoy with my coffee.

WITH my coffee is very important.

I love my morning coffee. LOVE. Real, genuine, think-about-it-the-night-before kind of love. It’s one of the best parts of the day.

Hot, strong, black coffee.

Ahhh.

Which means I am not a morning smoothie person.

I want to be a morning smoothie person, but 2018 is the year that I accept that I am just not. I will not be starting off my day with a giant blend of leafy greens and flax seeds and self-satisfaction.

Because drinking a smoothie first thing in the morning ruins my coffee experience.

I can’t have that.

So I’m making peace with the truth, and moving my smoothie ambitions to mid-afternoon, when I could really use a healthy snack to give me an energy boost for school pick-up through dinner.

Instead of thinking I’ll get up in the morning and make myself a smoothie but then cradling my coffee and eating scraps from packing school lunches, I’m going to accept that I don’t want a smoothie in the morning so I’d better make a different plan.

Something I can eat quickly, with limited preparation and dishes. Something that goes with coffee. Something I can make ahead. Something delicious, whole grain, with nuts and dried fruit for energy, and a zest of lemon to make me feel like I’m a grown-up.

Do you have a healthy practice, like smoothies for breakfast, that you’ve tried to embrace but failed? Maybe it’s time to let it go and find a suitable alternative that works for you.

Like cookies.

I would like to open this (you’ll see why) by saying that I know what’s for dinner. Yellow rice & black beans with broccoli and stuffed sweet potato with balsamic date glaze. BECAUSE – I just got my copy of The How Not to Die Cookbook in the mail, which made meal planning extra exciting.

So.

That’s settled.

Now I’d like to do a little brainstorming.

A few years ago, I saw Abby Glassenberg speak and one topic I found particularly helpful was about making your own set of rules for yourself in order to get more done. You can read her blog post on the topic here, and I recommend that you do.

I started thinking about adding some rules recently. I had just wandered around the house collecting dirty laundry for what felt like the hundredth time this week, then caught up on e-mails until 6 p.m. and realized it was dinnertime and I had zero plan for dinner. (This happens more frequently than it should to all of us, I suspect.)

Here are some potential rules I’ve been thinking about lately that could help smooth out my life.

What if…

I didn’t sit down in front of the computer until I had a plan for dinner.

I stopped picking the kids’ socks and laundry up off the floor.

I actually enforced the last activity being picked up and any homework done before I let the kids have screen time.

I didn’t go to bed until I knew what I was packing the kids for lunch the next day and whether they needed to bring back library books.

I didn’t serve afternoon snack until the kids unpacked their backpacks.

Doesn’t this all sound magical?

Running rules 

One house rule Greg and I used to joke about (but pretty much followed) was always that if you’re too sick or tired to run, no beer for you.

Another good one from one half marathon cycle was that I would always put on my gear first thing in the morning if I was supposed to run (instead of going downstairs in pajamas- put warm gear on over the running stuff if needed). It’s much harder if you have to set that cup of coffee down and go change out of your flannels.

Some of these rules take little effort and are about choosing the optimal time for a task rather than adding to my workload. But the impact is big. I love knowing what’s for dinner or what I’m packing in tomorrow’s lunchbox ahead of time.

Do you have rules for yourself?

Have stress in your life? I highly recommend reading the recent New York Times article How to Be Better at Stress.

There were two key takeaways from the article:

1. How negatively you perceive your stress has more impact on your health than the amount of stress you have.
2. Practicing stress by putting yourself in challenging but enjoyable situations outside your comfort zone can actually change your biological response to stress.

This is great news for athletes because we excel at pushing ourselves outside our comfort zones and stressing ourselves out for fun.

Hands shaking at the starting line? That’s fine, we can use the adrenaline! Here we go.

And that’s exactly the type of attitude that predicts lower negative health outcomes in individuals who have high stress. By perceiving our stress response, from sweaty palms to an accelerated heart rate, as a sign that our body is preparing for the challenge ahead (not that we’re primed for a heart attack), we may actually reduce the negative health consequences of becoming stressed.

The study quoted in the article seemed to find that worrying about stress is correlated with higher risk of premature death, but the amount of stress in your life isn’t. Now, I’ll caution that this study, despite having a good field size of 28,000 participants over almost a decade, was using self-reporting to determine both the amount of stress and people’s perceived impact of that stress. It showed a correlation between how much people thought stress negatively impacted them and their risk of premature death. That doesn’t prove causation and could be chalked up to errors in self-reporting. What if the people saying they had tons of stress but didn’t think it impacted their health really didn’t have as much stress? But that doesn’t negate the importance of the finding that people who believe stress is negatively impacting their life are right.

Besides…

What are the negative side effects of embracing that stressed out feeling when it comes over you, and telling yourself that your body is preparing you for what’s ahead, even if it’s just getting the kids out the door on time for school? (Totally random example. Very random.)

The idea of practicing stress resonates strongly with me. I was completely nerved up walking into my first strength training class at the gym. I had no idea where to get equipment, how to set up my station, whether we were even supposed to set up stations, where the front of the room was or what we would be doing. I’m an introvert, and maybe this sounds silly to you, but I was very nervous. Now I can walk in not knowing any of those things and it doesn’t bother me at all because I’ve been through it dozens of times. The same goes for donating blood and public speaking (I have zero issues talking in front of large groups after teaching high school!).

But wait, there’s more!

I find that repeated exposure to stressful events does more than prepare me for the same events next time. It prepares me to better handle all stressful events. One of my more popular blog posts is one I wrote about peeling a crazy number of peaches. In it, I talk about how running a half marathon made me better at handling other endurance tasks by just taking it one step at a time and knowing I’d finish eventually.

The same goes for stressful situations. After pushing myself out of my comfort zone again and again, I’ve gotten better and better at embracing challenges, asking myself “what’s next” and moving forward with confidence that I’ll make it through.

Because I’ve built my imaginary stress muscle. I’ve stood at the starting line of a half marathon worried about running for over two hours without stopping. I’ve clipped into a road bike for the first time. Completed two open water swims. And I’ve totally inoculated myself against being nervous entering any fitness class ever again.

Not only that, I’ve done it for fun. I’ve seen my hands shake from stress and nerves and laughed about it, because I was excited to do something that scared me. If I can convert that positive feeling about stress to a situation that isn’t fun and channel my stress response into a sign that I’m ready to take on this challenge, it’s not such an intellectual jump to expect that stress might have a less negative impact on my well-being.

What have you done that’s built your resistance to stress? I’m guessing you have your own list. Write it down. Remember it. It’s proof of your own strength, strength you can call upon the next time your hands start to sweat.

So take your pounding heart and your shaking hands as a sign that you are ready for battle, then go forth and conquer your life.

You’re an athlete.

You’ve got this.

Interested in more after reading the article? Listen to an interview with Dr. Dennis Charney about mastering resilience (quoted in article) on Shrink Rap Radio. I love Shrink Rap Radio for its long-form interviews with experts in psychology.