Good Day Sunshine!

"I need to laugh, and when the sun is out
I've got something I can laugh about
I feel good, in a special way
I'm in love and it's a sunny day ..."

It is incredible outside today. I know, I know. It's still midwest winter. But it will be OK. That's going to be my mantra until spring.

Until my butt-thigh makeover deadline, actually.

IT WILL BE OK.

I am starting to feel stronger, like I can take on my many things I love to do and commit to do.

I asked myself this week what I love doing more than anything in the world. It was difficult to answer. I decided that I love writing. I write every day, to some extent. I rarely have no words (take me to a doctor if I run out of words). Thirty-almost-nine-years into this journey here and I have truly never been at a loss...

I love playing piano, singing, sewing, baking, walking, dancing, and talking about holistic health... but nothing quite compares to writing. My daughter looked at me yesterday and said, “You should write all the time, Mom, because it makes you happy. I've never seen you so happy...”

The only reason I am telling you this is because what I love most in the world to do, what I hope to someday turn into a way to make a living for my kids and me (writing, in case you didn't pick up on that,) is also completely counter-productive to staying fit. :(

Sitting on your butt, writing about walking, writing about dancing and climbing and sex, writing about drinking green tea and water (all while sipping super-sized iced coffees), stopping to eat a little piece of holiday fudge or to take a nap... I can see how some people and writing could become a treacherous marriage of delusion. It takes much effort to maintain a healthy body in today's society.

So maybe you are not in love with writing, like I am. It's just an example. I have talked with many people lately about “The Way We Grew Up.” Do you remember winters of our youth? I know I'm not crazy when I tell you that I spent every day outside. Winters we were out making snowmen, sledding, skating, skiing, riding snowmobiles, or simply exploring the woods. We wore our winter garb until it was soaked, and then we went to the “B” winter garb, which often included socks on our hands and plastic bags on our feet with rubber bands around the ankles to hold them up. (I had never heard of American Eagle Outfitters or Aeropostle, so I didn't require name brand winterwear in order to go outside.) By the time the “B” garb was soaked, our “A” garb was dry on the heating vent and we put it back on.

How did we get from there to needing gadgets and special gear before we can even get moving? Little wrist-watch-style trackers that plug into our brain cells and tell us things we think we need to know about our bodies in order to move them; special sports carb gels to replenish bodies (on sale for $1.49 each!!!), and these incredible shoes and boots for every imaginable activity. I understand that tools to help us achieve goals without harming ourselves are good and worthy. I just think we might set ourselves up for quitting before we even really start.

I think teens have something over us on this. Let's extract a little. I do not have cable, there is one computer we all share (and my kids tell me I am really stingy about sharing, so they aren't on very often,) the kids don't have cell phones, and we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere. So I will use my “bored-out-of-their-minds” kids as examples.

Against their wills, they find things to do!

I know I've said some of this before, but I am looking at positive things about being who we are, where we are, how we are.

1.) We put CDs in the DVD-player and dance for forty-five minutes. Maybe we don't dance straight through, but the way I see it, it's better than if we didn't do it at all.

2.) When we go to the store, I park far away. I don't like fighting for a close spot because I have anxiety in crowds anyway. The walking is actually OK. It might not be more than a three-minute-walk, but that's six minutes once we walk back to our car after the shopping is done. It's cold, so we walk fast. That's probably 3/8 of a mile, in reality. Two stores later and we've done a mile. :)

3.) This one might be difficult: My kids have always climbed the doorways. It amazes me. The older they get, they more difficult it is, but my eight-year-old can still climb (like Spiderman) to the top. I don't know how to apply this. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it.  Hmm.

4.) Because we are all creative, it makes us fairly disorganized and forgetful. This isn't the worst thing in the world when it comes to fitness, because it means we have to go back in the house, all the way up the stairs, into the room, down, up, down, and up again looking for socks, coats, shoes, papers, purses, etc. (This was a stretch...)

Implementing little things into each day which increase movement is my goal. I have committed to sitting on my butt a lot with all the writing I am doing. When I'm not writing, I am often playing the piano, which is still sitting. I know I'm not alone in my frustrating realization that I no longer move the way I used to, even if I still think I do.

I still have to decide about joining that gym (even though I feel more powerful and capable of doing it myself than I did the last time I blogged). I feel that my money could be better spent elsewhere. Although, if I don't incorporate activity on a regular basis, I ought to spend the money on a membership, I guess. I, one of the most frugal spenders you will ever meet, would never spend money on a gym membership and then proceed to not use it. There is a point to spending money on something. It makes us value it more, even if we can technically get the same results without spending the money.

To update you, my fabulous followers and friends, I have been eating well this new year. No major indulgences. My skin is looking good, my energy is returning from my crazy, stressful, blue holiday, and my attitude is once again spilling over with optimism. I like me again. I am not going to make any New Year's resolutions or anything, since I already spelled out great ideas at the beginning of this blog. I continue to believe in the challenge. I continue to work toward the goal, ever-slowly at times. Faster now than a couple weeks ago, though.

The one thing I will leave you with today is this: I read a few months ago about a woman who lost a tremendous amount of weight. She regained control of her life and transformed her mind and overall belief in herself. It was really inspirational. The one thing she said that stuck with me was this: Don't own “fat-clothes.” There should be nothing comfortable about gaining weight.

I am really glad I have no fat clothes. I continuously go through my closet and donate clothes I don't wear and ones that are too big for me. It is what saved me over the holidays. I had a week there where my jeans were a little uncomfortable around my waist and I wanted to buy a stretchy velour grandma-suit and a box of donuts (not that I could eat them...), but I didn't. I endured the tight waistline, and changed my consumption of foods and liquids until my jeans felt good again.

Beauty is not defined by the shape of our bodies, no. I do not look at others in a judgmental way regarding that, nor do I believe I am only about physical appearance. I would hate for someone to read about me in this blog and glean this inaccuracy. Beauty is very much about how we perceive ourselves and whether we like who we are, though. And if being fit makes us like ourselves more, then it is a worthy endeavor. I have found that when mama's happy, everyone's happy...

Next blog: Update on hair removal as part of beautifying, update on stretches and activities (including gym or no gym), and a list of reasons why making goals is good for our health.

xoxo

Laura Lee