Coffee is not breakfast
"Sad smoothie"is proof to myself that I am committed to better self-care.
During the summer months, when my schedule shifts and I have a bit more time in the morning, I love whipping up a clean, green smoothie filled with kale, chia and hemp seeds, dark berries, unsweetened almond milk, and vegan protein powder. Sometimes, when I've been on a cooking spree, I'll make a smoothie bowl even, topping it with homemade granola and unsweetened shredded coconut. That is the breakfast of the perfect me, the me who begins her day with success, the one dedicated to self-care.
“The best is the enemy of the good.” Voltaire
It is the dead of winter now. I live in Minnesota, and that means that we are lucky if the temperature outside reaches the double digits. Today it will not. Today is a day for warm pajamas, steamy coffee, and a hot bath. Today, it is tempting to throw out all aspirations for a healthy fruit and vegetable-filled start to the day. Minnesota, after all, is know for its creamy chicken wild rice soup and warm and rich casseroles or, as we call them, hot dishes. Not to mention, it is so easy to stay in bed just a bit longer these days than during those bright, summer mornings. Mornings are cold and rushed, leaving little time for more than a coffee on the way out the door and into the brisk, dark morning.
Sad smoothies are better than sadness
Voltaire has been credited with popularizing the Italian proverb which translates to "the best is the enemy of the good." As a writing teacher, I often tell my students to just get something down onto the page, even if it isn't perfect. Some students will sit with a blank page, for days even, writing and deleting, line after line and sentence after sentence. They find ways to distract and avoid, just waiting for "the weather" to change. The potential for progress exists only when we can just get something on the page or just take one action in the area of our intended growth. My mornings lately have consisted of, what I have lovingly called, "sad smoothie". The recipe is one that you would not find in Clean Eating magazine or Goop. No pictures of this would grace the pages of any self-respecting blog. It is protein powder and greens powder mixed quickly in my Lifetime fitness shaker cup. It is most often gulped quickly with chunks of power still clinging together. This, however, is the messy and imperfect action that proves to myself every day that I am still committed to myself. That, too, is grace.
