Wrote this for SparkPeople originally, but felt it was appropriate to share across the board. Yay...
101 Ways to Stress-Free Living
Your Body, Your Gym
and a fitness and nutrition journal.
I'd previously bought the Spark book too. I'm really making an intelligent, mental effort to become a physically active person. I feel if I educate myself on best practices, purposes, and new ideas, I'll be more inspired to execute them myself.
The 101 Ways to Stress-Free Living has really influenced me recently. I've learned that while to-do lists are often effective they can contribute to my rather frequent overwhelming feeling. Solution: need to write less lists by being more productive in the moment. Also, I'm considering a detox period to help cleanse my mind and body. Focusing on consuming only the most purifying, gratifying foods for 3 - 4 days seems like a logical, uplifting way to clear my mind and my body in one fell swoop.
I think the reading alone is inspiring me to find more time for action. Just this weekend JM and I went for a light hike (about 2.3 miles), went our for lunch, which granted was not healthy by any stretch of the imagination, and came home to relax a few hours and then went to play tennis.
It was exhilarating. Honestly. I felt so great about being active -- I'm not great at tennis, maybe not even good, but I try. And I'll keep trying. Thank God I have a beautiful and loving and tender-coaching boyfriend. He is super tolerant of me. See, he's a natural at most any sport.
But you know what I'm most excited about? Jon-Michael and I sat in bed last night and each wrote a list of goals we'd like to accomplish in the next 2 years. We had the EXACT SAME LISTS!
One of these days I'll share my list, but for now let me just tell you he and I are finally opening working toward the same goal. We want to lose weight and, together, run a 5K.
Maybe now, with my better half holding me accountable on a daily basis, I will feel the pressure to achieve my goals. I feel badly even saying that though; it implies that the accountability I should feel from the friends and network of support I have here isn't enough. But that simply isn't how I mean this. What I mean by it is that I have someone here on a daily basis who I can work with and lean on when I'm feeling less than inspired.
And with that being said, I think I'm going to need to reconnect with my existing Spark Buddies via text messaging. I don't have access to SparkPeople during the day -- which is generally when I have my moments of weakness. Meg and Melissa -- this means you may be getting more texts from me -- AKA pleas for inspiration.
Tomorrow is my day off. My friend is coming over to my house with my three goddaughters. We'll be taking them to the water park and hopefully I'll be getting plenty of exercise. But before that, I'm hoping I'll be able to get a doggie walk or maybe a bike ride through the neighborhood into my schedule.
I feel like this blog is going no place significant. But as usual, I want to thank everyone who has supported me and who continues to. I'm sorry I'm not here anymore to support most of you in return. I need to do a better job. Maybe once I seem to rediscover my balance in life, I'll realize this is actually one of my strongest networks and that I do actually need you guys.
I think I better go for now -
sending love and light.
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