First Day Back
🌼 Date: Monday, August 24, 2026
⚡Energy: Classroom marathon
💖 Status: Back at work, technically
🤔 Outlook: Rinse and repeat, with meal prep and outfit armor
Today was my first day back to work since this whole cancer saga started.
First.
Day.
Back.
Granted, it was “only” sitting in eight hours of classes.
Only.
That word is hilarious.
Because let me tell you, by the end of the day, I felt like I had run a marathon.
Not a cute little 5K.
Not a fun walk with matching shirts.
A full marathon.
Uphill.
In work clothes.
With medical chest rocks.
It is amazing how sitting in a classroom full of people takes so much more energy than sitting in a recliner with my puppy nurses on my lap.
At home, my recliner understands me.
My puppies understand me.
The blanket understands me.
The ginger ale understands the assignment.
At work?
There are lights.
People.
Noise.
Conversations.
Questions.
Small talk.
Chairs that do not recline.
Temperature issues.
Bathroom timing.
Brain focus.
Body awareness.
And the constant background thought of:
“Please do not let my body betray me in public.”
It was a lot.
Not bad, necessarily.
Just a lot.
More than I expected.
Or maybe exactly what I expected, but I was hoping my body would surprise me and act like a fully charged phone instead of one sitting at 17% with twelve apps open.
By the end of the day, I was done.
Done done.
The kind of done where your body feels heavy, your brain feels fuzzy, and your soul starts looking for the exit.
And this was day one.
Of sitting.
In class.
Cancer recovery is rude.
Because the world sees sitting in a classroom and thinks, “That should be easy.”
But my body knows better.
My body knows I am still rebuilding.
My stamina is still a work in progress.
My energy budget is still limited.
My brain is still recovering.
My left side still has opinions.
My nervous system is still adjusting to being around people and noise and schedules again.
And my body is still trying to understand why we are no longer spending the day with puppy nurses and soft pants.
Honestly, fair question.
This is exactly why I planned ahead.
Thank goodness I already have my outfits planned for the rest of the week.
Because there is absolutely no way I would have the energy to stand in front of my closet tonight and make decisions.
Nope.
Decision-making Tina has left the building.
Closet Tina is unavailable.
Fashion Tina did her job ahead of time and may now rest.
And thank goodness I meal prepped.
Because the only thing I have energy for after today is going home, having dinner, and going to bed.
That is the whole evening plan.
Dinner.
Bed.
Maybe staring blankly at a wall for a few minutes if I am feeling ambitious.
Then tomorrow?
Rinse and repeat.
Get up.
Put on the planned outfit.
Pack the planned food.
Go to work.
Sit through classes.
Try to function like a normal human.
Come home.
Eat.
Collapse.
Repeat as needed.
This is the glamorous return-to-work plan.
No inspirational movie montage.
No triumphant music.
No slow-motion walk through the parking lot with everyone clapping.
Just me trying to make it through Callback week without fully powering down in public.
But here is the thing.
I did it.
Day one is done.
It may have kicked my butt, but I showed up.
I got dressed.
I went in.
I sat through eight hours of classes.
I existed around people.
I made it through.
That matters.
Even if I am exhausted.
Even if my body is mad.
Even if my energy is gone.
Even if the only thing I can do tonight is eat and go to bed.
I still did it.
Cancer took me out of work for almost a year.
Today, I walked back in.
Not as the old Tina.
Not as trainer Tina.
Not as yes-to-everything Tina.
Not as eleven-hour-days Tina.
But as Tina 2.0.
Tired.
Prepared.
Meal prepped.
Outfit armored.
Puppy-nurse deprived.
And still standing.
Barely.
But standing.
So tonight, I am not asking myself to do anything extra.
No chores.
No big decisions.
No catching up.
No proving I can handle it all.
I handled enough today.
The rest can wait.
My job tonight is dinner, rest, and recovery.
Because tomorrow, the alarm goes off again.
Callback week continues.
And Tiny Tina has to report for duty.
With snacks.
With water.
With boundaries.
With the outfit already chosen.
And hopefully with enough energy to make it through day two.
Want to follow the journey from the beginning?
Visit Tiny Tina – Status: Alive (Daily Check-Ins) to see the full timeline of posts.
If you’d like to be notified when a new post goes live, you can subscribe below for free and get an email each time I publish a new entry.
💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time
Leave a Reply