Take One Step
Sometimes life whirls around me like a twister, and all I can do is just watch with wide eyes, and wait for my moment to jump into its stream. The past few days have been just that for me, and I took a much needed rest from the chaos.
Several things came together late last week, that had me really run-down and exhausted physically and mentally, and for those reasons, I did not workout all weekend. I am getting really good at staving off the guilt that usually comes with skipping a workout, but only if my body truly does feel bad, and it really did. Happy to say, I stayed on track with my diet, except for a planned cheat meal on Friday evening, which consisted of 2 homemade tacos (the shells were horribly stale, yeck) and some chips with beans. After that meal, my lips were tortured by the salt, and it didn't even taste that good to me. Oh well. I did get a lot of house cleaning done over the weekend, which is a big deal for me, considering how messy my house usually is.
Speaking of messy houses, yesterday I had to spend all day in my neighbor's house, and it was just one step better than a house they would show on Hoarders. And the worst part about it is she has a six year old boy on the Autism spectrum with ADHD. Talk about sensory sensitivities! Anyway, being in that environment gave me an instant headache, I couldn't walk without stepping on something, I couldn't find one (NOT ONE!) empty spot on any surface to put my water bottle or even my notebook. How can people live like that? Without going into too much detail, her life is crashing down on her. On the surface, she is seeming to handle it with grace. But that look inside her life tells a lot. When we don't feel good about ourselves, our life screams it out in more ways than one. The chaos inside her house was an exact representation of how she feels inside. And though there are so many things she wants to change (she's always saying how she has to lose weight, clean her house, buy a house, get a good job, etc), she is so out of balance that it is an uphill climb she's not ready for right now. And that's how we become overwhelmed by life. Have you ever let the dishes go so long that you don't have any left to eat off? And you see the pile building and it just seems too much to take on, so you procrastinate. In the end, in tackling the first dish, you are taking control back of the situation. Weight loss is the same. If you look at it on a grand scale, it will overwhelm you, but the first step you take is reassuring your control over the outcome. If your environment is pure chaos, start with one simple thing, take control over it, and good things are sure to follow. Just the way that washing the piles of dishes turns into suddenly having the drive to clean up the entire kitchen. A messy house-mind-diet-finances usually go hand-in-hand. Taking control over one, proves to you that you can affect the outcome of nearly every goal you set out to acheive.
Scale says 161 today. I decided to switch things up and do my strength training first thing this morning, instead of my normal time, 1-2 hours after breakfast. I can tell my muscles were ready to get back into action, it was a great workout, and I felt really strong. I followed it up with a 20-minute, high intensity cardio session, and half-way through the session, I decided to run a bit. I tested myself to see how long I could run before I felt like I needed to stop, and to my surprise, I lasted 4 1/2 minutes before my quads felt too exhausted to continue. If I hadn't just done a weight workout, I may have been able to last longer, so I will experiment again on day that is designated as strictly cardio. I am interested to see where I'm at. This city has a multitude of marathons nearly all year long, and to say it isn't in the far corners of my mind would be a lie.
More snow about to dump on us, I am seriously considering throwing a party whenever spring decides to visit us in Green Bay. But I scored a huge interview (for an optical manager) on Thursday, so I am feeling no pain. Hope you are all pain free and in control! Happy Monday!
Several things came together late last week, that had me really run-down and exhausted physically and mentally, and for those reasons, I did not workout all weekend. I am getting really good at staving off the guilt that usually comes with skipping a workout, but only if my body truly does feel bad, and it really did. Happy to say, I stayed on track with my diet, except for a planned cheat meal on Friday evening, which consisted of 2 homemade tacos (the shells were horribly stale, yeck) and some chips with beans. After that meal, my lips were tortured by the salt, and it didn't even taste that good to me. Oh well. I did get a lot of house cleaning done over the weekend, which is a big deal for me, considering how messy my house usually is.
Speaking of messy houses, yesterday I had to spend all day in my neighbor's house, and it was just one step better than a house they would show on Hoarders. And the worst part about it is she has a six year old boy on the Autism spectrum with ADHD. Talk about sensory sensitivities! Anyway, being in that environment gave me an instant headache, I couldn't walk without stepping on something, I couldn't find one (NOT ONE!) empty spot on any surface to put my water bottle or even my notebook. How can people live like that? Without going into too much detail, her life is crashing down on her. On the surface, she is seeming to handle it with grace. But that look inside her life tells a lot. When we don't feel good about ourselves, our life screams it out in more ways than one. The chaos inside her house was an exact representation of how she feels inside. And though there are so many things she wants to change (she's always saying how she has to lose weight, clean her house, buy a house, get a good job, etc), she is so out of balance that it is an uphill climb she's not ready for right now. And that's how we become overwhelmed by life. Have you ever let the dishes go so long that you don't have any left to eat off? And you see the pile building and it just seems too much to take on, so you procrastinate. In the end, in tackling the first dish, you are taking control back of the situation. Weight loss is the same. If you look at it on a grand scale, it will overwhelm you, but the first step you take is reassuring your control over the outcome. If your environment is pure chaos, start with one simple thing, take control over it, and good things are sure to follow. Just the way that washing the piles of dishes turns into suddenly having the drive to clean up the entire kitchen. A messy house-mind-diet-finances usually go hand-in-hand. Taking control over one, proves to you that you can affect the outcome of nearly every goal you set out to acheive.
Scale says 161 today. I decided to switch things up and do my strength training first thing this morning, instead of my normal time, 1-2 hours after breakfast. I can tell my muscles were ready to get back into action, it was a great workout, and I felt really strong. I followed it up with a 20-minute, high intensity cardio session, and half-way through the session, I decided to run a bit. I tested myself to see how long I could run before I felt like I needed to stop, and to my surprise, I lasted 4 1/2 minutes before my quads felt too exhausted to continue. If I hadn't just done a weight workout, I may have been able to last longer, so I will experiment again on day that is designated as strictly cardio. I am interested to see where I'm at. This city has a multitude of marathons nearly all year long, and to say it isn't in the far corners of my mind would be a lie.
More snow about to dump on us, I am seriously considering throwing a party whenever spring decides to visit us in Green Bay. But I scored a huge interview (for an optical manager) on Thursday, so I am feeling no pain. Hope you are all pain free and in control! Happy Monday!
"Whoo Hoo, GOOD LUCK, in the interview..." ;0
ReplyDeleteI've never been able to run very well after doing weights, so I'll bet you could have run much longer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the state of your surroundings being reflective of what's going on inside...it sure sounds like your neighbour is beyond overwhelmed.
Hope your interview goes well and that the snow stops soon!