The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...
Is there such a thing as being too optimistic about a new year? Probably, but I'm not gonna worry about that right now. I know feelings are simply that, feelings. As human beings, we experience - sometimes more like suffer - from a far and wide ranging spectrum of feelings. Fortunately, one of the invaluable lessons I learned from "program" is that feelings are just feelings - they are not facts. This has protected me so many times from my very worst enemy - myself. I tend to get wrapped up in whatever mood settles on me unless I do the work required to recognize, accept and act on changing it. That's right, I get to choose whether I will be stay in a bad mood or not. You get to choose too, we all do.
Circumstances have converged at the beginning of this new year in a way that makes me very hopeful for growth in many areas of my life. I have many unspoken and unwritten resolutions, and sometimes I think it is better to leave them private, hidden. It seems like every time I talk out loud about them I jinx myself and the progress I have made. I'm not superstitious, I'm not, really.
I think I would benefit and enjoy taking a personal inventory. I was calling it a "planning day" but I think inventory is a better expression of what I envision. I think it will help me to see where I've been, where I am and where I hope to be in this next year (and the year after that and the year after that - God willing).
One of the best changes to my circumstances remains the reconciliation and restoration of a priceless friendship I thought was lost forever. That friendship is such a blessing to me. It restores the excitement of planning things together with someone who shares so much in common with me. Sharing ideas about taking care of our families, ourselves, encouraging each other in our creative outlets, loving our homes, nurturing out gifts, loving others well, growing in our faith, playing euchre and writing - among so many other things. Yes, I am so happy to have my friend back in my life!
Another circumstance, my journey to healthier weight and lifestyle. This topic deserves a post (or several ) of its own, but I want to say this; every year for the last 20-25 years I have told myself it's time to make changes. I don't want to be fat this time next year. I want more energy, I want more ambition, I want less pain and I want to keep up with my life. Each year I would look back on that goal and lament that there had been zero progress in that area, in fact, there often had been backward movement - weight gained, more pain, less energy, less ambition and feeling like I was getting further and further behind. This year, however, I am happy to say that there was progress! There was great progress! I made a decision in April 2016 that enough is enough. Losing weight isn't rocket science. It's making a series of decisions to do the right thing, over and over and over again until you start to see some changes, and then keep on making those decisions for the rest of my life. I did lose weight, I started weight lifting training with my daughter and I started walking outdoors at a local park. I started losing a little every week. It was slow, very slow. But one week added to another and one good choice added to another and before long it became part of who I am. I stopped lifting in August but kept walking, a lot. I discovered I love being outdoors and I love walking, even in the heat of July and August - who knew?! It's now January and the weather isn't as inviting as I was hoping it would be for winter walking. I hope the next few weeks will find me out there on the trail enjoying some crisp winter air with my Jesus. I need that quiet time alone with God. Words cannot even adequately express what that hour does for me and my attitude each day. Now lifting? I don't love it, but I don't hate it. I felt great because of it. I gained strength and I need and want to resume that work.
We celebrated not one but two wedding this Fall. Two of our daughters married their best friends in October, on back to back weekends. No, I'm not kidding and it was not a typo. So between weddings and all the celebrations leading up to them and the stress* involved with planning and executing them added to Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one giant holiday season of eat, drink and be married, I gained about six pounds of the thirty-eight I lost in the course of last year. I have plateaued now and am ready to start work toward the next forty pounds I hope and plan to lose this year. I don't attend any meetings, I don't subscribe to any particular weight-loss program. I am a believer that each person has to find what works for them and what works for one won't necessarily work for another. In fact, what works for a person during one period might not be what continues to work for them. We find what works until it doesn't work any more and then we find the next thing that will work. For me, for this season, I continue to use a Macro based program and MyFitnessPal to log every thing I eat and drink. I love to wear my FitBit and it encourages me to walk more, to keep moving. I weigh every single day and take the average at the end of the week to see a more accurate picture of what my body is doing weight-wise. It works for me. It might not work for everyone.
On a side note - I got a chuckle out of one of the commercials for a popular weight loss program/product. The one where Marie Osmond quips, "Count, measure, meeting, not me". That's true, Marie. You don't have to attend a meeting (although a 12 step meeting is good for everyone!LOL) and YOU don't have to count or measure but someone did to provide you with that food you ordered and received ready-to-eat. So counting, measuring, logging - being mindful of what passes through my lips? Yep, absolutely, because that is how I change my health for life. It works for me.
Well, that's all for now folks! Keep it simple, keep it right.

Circumstances have converged at the beginning of this new year in a way that makes me very hopeful for growth in many areas of my life. I have many unspoken and unwritten resolutions, and sometimes I think it is better to leave them private, hidden. It seems like every time I talk out loud about them I jinx myself and the progress I have made. I'm not superstitious, I'm not, really.
I think I would benefit and enjoy taking a personal inventory. I was calling it a "planning day" but I think inventory is a better expression of what I envision. I think it will help me to see where I've been, where I am and where I hope to be in this next year (and the year after that and the year after that - God willing).
One of the best changes to my circumstances remains the reconciliation and restoration of a priceless friendship I thought was lost forever. That friendship is such a blessing to me. It restores the excitement of planning things together with someone who shares so much in common with me. Sharing ideas about taking care of our families, ourselves, encouraging each other in our creative outlets, loving our homes, nurturing out gifts, loving others well, growing in our faith, playing euchre and writing - among so many other things. Yes, I am so happy to have my friend back in my life!
Another circumstance, my journey to healthier weight and lifestyle. This topic deserves a post (or several ) of its own, but I want to say this; every year for the last 20-25 years I have told myself it's time to make changes. I don't want to be fat this time next year. I want more energy, I want more ambition, I want less pain and I want to keep up with my life. Each year I would look back on that goal and lament that there had been zero progress in that area, in fact, there often had been backward movement - weight gained, more pain, less energy, less ambition and feeling like I was getting further and further behind. This year, however, I am happy to say that there was progress! There was great progress! I made a decision in April 2016 that enough is enough. Losing weight isn't rocket science. It's making a series of decisions to do the right thing, over and over and over again until you start to see some changes, and then keep on making those decisions for the rest of my life. I did lose weight, I started weight lifting training with my daughter and I started walking outdoors at a local park. I started losing a little every week. It was slow, very slow. But one week added to another and one good choice added to another and before long it became part of who I am. I stopped lifting in August but kept walking, a lot. I discovered I love being outdoors and I love walking, even in the heat of July and August - who knew?! It's now January and the weather isn't as inviting as I was hoping it would be for winter walking. I hope the next few weeks will find me out there on the trail enjoying some crisp winter air with my Jesus. I need that quiet time alone with God. Words cannot even adequately express what that hour does for me and my attitude each day. Now lifting? I don't love it, but I don't hate it. I felt great because of it. I gained strength and I need and want to resume that work.
We celebrated not one but two wedding this Fall. Two of our daughters married their best friends in October, on back to back weekends. No, I'm not kidding and it was not a typo. So between weddings and all the celebrations leading up to them and the stress* involved with planning and executing them added to Thanksgiving and Christmas all rolled into one giant holiday season of eat, drink and be married, I gained about six pounds of the thirty-eight I lost in the course of last year. I have plateaued now and am ready to start work toward the next forty pounds I hope and plan to lose this year. I don't attend any meetings, I don't subscribe to any particular weight-loss program. I am a believer that each person has to find what works for them and what works for one won't necessarily work for another. In fact, what works for a person during one period might not be what continues to work for them. We find what works until it doesn't work any more and then we find the next thing that will work. For me, for this season, I continue to use a Macro based program and MyFitnessPal to log every thing I eat and drink. I love to wear my FitBit and it encourages me to walk more, to keep moving. I weigh every single day and take the average at the end of the week to see a more accurate picture of what my body is doing weight-wise. It works for me. It might not work for everyone.
On a side note - I got a chuckle out of one of the commercials for a popular weight loss program/product. The one where Marie Osmond quips, "Count, measure, meeting, not me". That's true, Marie. You don't have to attend a meeting (although a 12 step meeting is good for everyone!LOL) and YOU don't have to count or measure but someone did to provide you with that food you ordered and received ready-to-eat. So counting, measuring, logging - being mindful of what passes through my lips? Yep, absolutely, because that is how I change my health for life. It works for me.
Well, that's all for now folks! Keep it simple, keep it right.
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