I can do hard things

These past few weeks have been ones I have dedicated as my "Kim can do hard things" weeks. These things may seem simple to other people, but they are things that actually mean a lot to me.

1. I asked for a raise at work. I didn't even get close to the amount that I wanted, but the fact that I actually stood up, walked 20 feet to this woman's office who intimidates me like crazy, and asked her to increase my salary, meant a lot to me. I got up from my desk and was back at my desk in less that 2 minutes and nearly had a heart attack in those 2 minutes. This is something that I had been planning on doing for months. Seriously, it took me months to get out of my chair and talk to her.

2. I referenced a few posts ago that I bought a sewing machine. I was trying to decide what I wanted to be for Halloween and started looking for ideas on line. I found a really cute pattern for a Little Red Riding Hood costume and knew immediately that is what I wanted to be. I went to the store that night and bought everything I needed for the costume. I have worked on it about 3 hours every night since I started, and it is starting to come together! I am completely done with the hood and am now working on the dress. I am not a seamstress, so this has been a trial and error process. I swear sometimes I have had to read the directions about 10 times before I understand what I am doing, but so far everything looks good. See how cute it is below!

The unhappiest part of the whole costume making experience came last night when I was sewing. I was sewing a few layers of fabric together and the fabric got stuck. The needle was still sewing, but the fabric wasn't moving. I pushed on the pedal full blast and decided to push the fabric through with my hand. Mistake. My hand slipped I ended up sewing through my finger. Oh, if you had heard me scream. It was a bloody scream. Even better, the needle broke while it was still in my finger so I had to pull it out. Yuck. Blood started gushing from two sides of my finger and I soaked a cotton ball through. I put a band-aid on and the pain subsided in a few hours. I took the band-aid off this morning and the saddest thing is, you can barely see my needle holes. I will never ever make that mistake again.

3. Recently, a friend asked Jerika and I if we wanted to participate in a triathlon. At first we said "No way! We can't do that." Then we thought, "You know what? Let's at least try." We went to the gym the next day and were able to do 2/3 of the triathlon...at least 2/3 of the events. We did the 5K and the 350m swimming (the biking is 10 miles). We were able to complete those events without seeing death, so we decided to go for it. The past few months I have been working out 2-3 times a week for 30-45 minutes. This has been upped to about an hour everyday. That is commitment! Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't love exercising, in fact, I don't like it, and I especially don't like running. I don't find it enjoyable, I don't like pain and I don't feel good and refreshed after doing it.

Last night as I was running the 5K, I was in pain, I wasn't having fun. I honestly just wanted to sit down, cry, give up - call it quits on the triathlon- and go home and eat ice cream. I only kept going because I would see Jerika and Camille running just ahead of me and I would say to myself "C'mon Kim, you can catch up to them. You can do it." The last lap for me was by far the hardest, but I was with Camille and we were pushing each other to finish, to go faster. The 5K took us 30 minutes, but we did it! My goal is to finish the entire thing in an hour and a half. I don't need to be in the top half of my age group even, just get an acceptable score and not give up.

I know for a fact that I won't love doing this triathlon, but I am going to do it. I am going to stick with this. I just wish they would give everyone that participates a medal for finishing. Unfortunately, they only give the top 3 finishers in each group one, and that will certainly not be me. I have never gotten a medal for any kind of sport before, and it would make me happy to have one. Oh well, I guess that is what I get for never participating in any sort of sports.

I don't think I have ever really challenged myself in life. So although these things are hard, I am happy that I am doing them. I can do hard things!