Category: walking

Don’t Wait

In case you haven’t noticed, I love quotes. I save them on my phone, on Pinterest, and in a folder with all my pictures on my computer. To get pumped up for my new start, I searched quotes about new beginnings and self-improvement. The one that smacked me right in the face was this one:

I am 51 years old. I have battled my weight for so long that I barely remember a time that I wasn’t unhappy with my weight. Every time I say I will start tomorrow, next week, on Monday, and then don’t do it, I am just depriving myself of time with a healthy, fit body, and making it harder and harder to get there at all. Time isn’t going to slow down for me to get my act together. I don’t want to waste any more time.

After I published yesterday’s blog post, I put on the sneakers that I keep at my desk and went for a walk. I tried to remember the last time I took a walk at work, and I couldn’t. How sad.

Walking alone is so boring, so I found a Shaun T podcast on YouTube to listen to while I walked. The man loves drama and the sound of his own voice, but I don’t care. I adore Shaun T:

I only intended to walk for about 15 minutes, but I ended up walking for 30 minutes because I wanted to hear the entire podcast. He said a few things that struck a nerve. I might expand on that in a future blog post, once I’m done pondering all of it.

So today is day #2, and so far I have logged all my food, actually ate some fruit, and drank tea and water instead of soda. My body will go into shock shortly, I am sure of it.

Last night, I tried a Pilates class online. I have done Pilates abs before but not a full Pilates class. I’m not quite sold on it yet. I didn’t hate it, and I will try another workout to give it a fair try. Right now, I am so out of shape that I will hate pretty much any workout, so I am trying to keep an open mind!

Refuge

Is it Friday yet? This has been a long, stressful week already! Part of my stress is work: staying late, being asked to help people out with projects that, quite honestly, I feel they should have been able to handle on their own. But those projects are finished (for now), so I am taking a quick breather.

The rest of my stress is nothing new: the kids…or more accurately, worrying about the kids.

I wouldn’t worry so much about the kids if I could be reassured they were in good hands when they are not with us, but there is not enough self-deception in the world to make me even begin to believe that. I see so many outrageously horrible decisions being made. I see the kids in an unbelievably toxic environment with so-called adults behaving more like children than the kids do. And, as usual, I see no concern at all for any of it except from me and my husband.

My only comfort is knowing that my husband and I have always tried to teach and equip the kids to rise above the circumstances they have been forced into, and we’ve encouraged them to forge their own paths. All of them are old enough now that if they choose instead to march along right behind the walking personality disorder in their other home, then that is, sadly, now between them and the people who have refused to ever care about the kids and their well-being.

We will always be here for the kids. That will never change. Unfortunately, I don’t believe they will open their eyes until they desperately need sanity, stability, and reality, none of which can be provided by the mentally unstable individuals surrounding them now.

The worst thing I can do is neglect myself. That isn’t going to help anyone, least of all me. I need to take care of myself and be gentle with myself. I just finished a long walk during my lunch break, chatting away with my co-worker. It’s a start, right?

The other morning, when the alarm went off, my cat was tucked close to my side, purring loudly, and my husband had wrapped an arm tightly around me. I felt so safe, content, and peaceful. I was tempted to turn off the alarm and drift back to sleep, because I just didn’t want to get up and leave that cozy, soothing spot.

I am happy that I feel that way with my husband. No matter what is happening, I know he is my home base, my safe place, my refuge. I think an evening with my husband is just what the doctor ordered!

Spa Night

I finished a major project at work yesterday morning, so as a reward before diving into the next one, I took a short shopping break. I was definitely in a “I need break” mood, because I ended up picking up a deep conditioning hair mask, a face mask, and a new shampoo to try. (Can you tell I have very long hair?)

I walked with a co-worker during my lunch later that afternoon. Our building is huge, and the hallways are like long, wide roads, so we meet up to walk in the air-conditioning and even have some stairs to pump up our workout.

Later, I was glad we had walked, because I discovered a discrepancy in a report and had to tear files apart to fix it. It took a while, but I found it and fixed it, then closed everything down and finally headed home much later than usual.

Thankfully, my husband had already started dinner, and I walked through the front door to some darn good, tempting smells coming from the kitchen. He loves to cook, so who am I to stand in his way, right?

After dinner, I should have worked out. But every cell in my body loudly protested and stood their ground with resolved conviction. I figured, well, I walked earlier today, so why not have a spa evening?

I spread on a face mask, then fired up a hot, steamy shower, and cracked open the new shampoo, the deep conditioner, body scrub, you name it. I even lit a scented candle. I guess my husband was either curious what on earth I was doing, or drawn to the flickering, candle-lit bathroom, because soon I heard, “Do you have room for one more?”

Come back, it’s not about to get explicit in here, ha ha. It was just nice to melt away the day’s tension, unwind, feel his arms around me, laugh, and make plans for our next date night under the soothing steam. I am so happy I have him to come home to.

I still have a ton to do at work, but I am going to do my best to not work late tomorrow (date night). Oh, and for the record, the deep conditioner is great, and my hair is very soft and fluffy today 🙂 Maybe I will write a review about it!

Duty Calls

I have a confession to make: I did not work out last night.  Not one second.  I thought about it, if that counts for anything.  But I get so little free time anymore that I just wanted to hoard my evening with my husband and stepson, and I simply wasn’t willing to give up a second of it.

This morning I had to meet someone at the house, so I didn’t have to be at work until after lunchtime.  I decided to make up for the skipped workout last night, and I took my stepson’s dog for an extra-long walk.  We even jogged here and there, trying to burn off some of his energy!  We played with a large stick he discovered and instantly claimed.  When I picked it up and spun in a circle with it, he eagerly raced in circles with me.  Anything to tire him out!  He’s like a toddler on crack and energy drinks.

The weather was perfect this morning, chilly but not cold, with a crispness in the air that felt so good.  It would have been a perfect day to head to the trails and just get lost in the woods for a while.

Alas, work called, and I knew I had a meeting at my office coming up.  So the hyper dog, now panting and at least a bit less wound up, and I headed back home so I could get ready for work.

I met up with my husband for lunch before heading to work, which made it even harder to leave.   Lunch flew by, just chatting and having fun.  I didn’t want to leave.   My bad-influence husband tried to persuade me to play hooky and just escape back to the house with him, which was incredibly tempting, but I had to give him a few kisses and then head to the office.

So…I didn’t work out as promised last night, but it worked out pretty well for the dog today!

And now, duty calls, and I am wanted in a meeting.  Hope everyone is having a great day!

Two Pounds

I don’t think I have ever been more proud of losing two pounds in my entire life!  This past week was intense, and I had so much going on that I was getting home in just enough time to change into comfy pajamas and climb into bed.

I had worked out two days in a row, looked at my schedule for the rest of the week, and sighed. There was no way I could fit a workout into days packed that tight! Oh, well. I was disappointed to wreck my streak, but what could I do?

Then a strange thing happened. I wasn’t content to just leave it at that.  In the past, I would have just given up on working out at all.  But not this time.

No, I wouldn’t have time to hit the gym, or even do a workout DVD at home, but couldn’t I do at least a little something during my lunch break?

So that’s what I did. I walked during my lunch breaks for three days.  I figured even a short workout was better than nothing.

So the two pounds I lost this week were hard fought. I worked like hell for them. I looked at my obstacles from a different angle and found a new way around them. I am proud of myself and how I handled the hassles and constraints this past week.

Today is a much-needed day off, a nice break with my husband and my stepson. I thoroughly enjoyed lounging lazily and happily in bed this morning, my husband rubbing my back while we planned the day.  Tomorrow I will make sure to work out, then I will plan how to make next week a success too.

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