Howdyyyyyyyyyyy!
So how did you do today? Did you do something for your body, your physical health, or perhaps your moral health? Did you do anything to get you closer to your goal(s), or to get you focused? What made you feel good today? I hope it wasn't four bottles of beer, or a pint of Hagen Dazs. Or was it?
The latest and greatest in fitness is that it is truly an end product and there are no shortcuts. If there are things in your life that keep you from feeling good and being good, not just physically but mentally and psychologically too, than you'd better devise a plan to start cleaning house! Start in the basement (well, maybe not in FL), and one room at a time. If you have multiple issues, start fixing some of it, just one thing, and see how much better you're going to feel. The more things you have fixed the easier the rest will be, and pretty soon you'll find yourself wanting to be good to other people. Yes, it's true. Goodness doesn't come from wealth, religion, or other "outside" influence or source, including pills and surgery. It comes from feeling whole, feeling proud and well, and strong and worthy. It comes from appreciating one's own life so others' can be appreciated too. It comes from successfully negotiating obstacles and remembering the battle as a fun adventure it wasn't. hee hee
So my friend, tackle one and keep moving. Don't look ahead and say "Gee, the next one looks even higher", say "Gee, that last one wasn't as tough as I thought it would be and I am still moving, and moving stronger". So there, the daily preach session is over, do something good for yourself, and do something good for someone else. Just because. It will mold you into a stronger, better being. Than I don't have to dislike you anymore:)
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Weight problem... or is it?
When I look around and listen to the media, watch tv and read newsletters and newspaper articles I see EVERYTHING referencing “weight”. Weight management. Weight loss. Weight watch. Loose weight, control your weight. Get your ideal weight, reduce your weight, weight, weight, weight. It’s a number, a value. It fluctuates. It is hardly ever “ideal”. It is a subject of many health issues; eating disorders, exercise addictions, too much, too little - is it really ever ideal?
Is it really ever the problem or the solution??? Does weight exist alone, does it develop by itself, and does it live independent from, say, lifestyle, nutrition, personal choices, and physical fitness???
Again, it is one of my pet peeves of the media mind twisting and the individual responsibility taking, when we do not address the actual problem, we do not try to fix what’s wrong, we do not build from a foundation, but we do single out something from the whole picture that can be quick-fixed and marketed and blamed. Focus on your weight. Stress about it. Get depressed about it. Keep it in check with pills and crash diets. Do the water and air diet, the Hollywood diet, the i-don’t-eat-real-food diet, and watch your weight drop! Then what…? Go back to your regular life. And watch your weight get out of whack again. Why? Because weight alone, is not anything. It’s not your enemy, it is simply the end result, the end value that depicts your personal choices, your lifestyle, your fitness habits and your state of physical fitness. There! Who wudda thunk it? Now, the problem we’re facing is much bigger, isn’t it?? What do we fix first? Because all the above listed facets that make up, pretty much, our whole life, are not easily fixed. At all. That’s why.
So I say it again: there are no shortcuts! If you want real results that will enrich and extend your life, than you must be honest with yourself in the first place. Admit the problem. Chances are, it’s not all of those but one or maybe two things. Let’s say you hire a personal trainer to get yourself motivated and started on the path to regular physical exercise. You pay him for three months and you work out religiously for three months. Then it’s over and you start dropping off, forgetting your routines, you have no accountability or commitment to an outside source, you quit. Waste of money… You failed to search within and find what you like, something enjoyable. You failed to learn your sessions, not just do them. You failed to make plans for when you’re on your own, and a new commitment to yourself to stay in the game. You failed to set a goal.
Or let’s say you pay good money to be part of this awesome diet plan, furnishing meals and systems by which you can monitor your indulgence and still pat yourself on the back. And you are dropping the pounds, measuring and grinning and starving yourself, or fooling yourself. Then the program stops and life happens. Again, you fail. You fail because you failed before when life “happened”, that is why you got here in the first place. You fail, because you wanted a quick fix and didn’t think about the future. Didn’t educate yourself and didn’t commit to make better choices and stick with them for life. No one taught you how to, they just helped you drop the weight.
So see, you set yourself up for failure, and invest your time and money to get nothing in return. You have not addressed the actual issue and have not committed to make lifelong changes, have not found a way to enjoy this process so you can maintain it. No shortcuts, guys! None! And I don’t just preach this, I have lived it in many horrible ways I don’t care to share on the world wide web, just believe me when I say this: I saved my own life, and have jumped many hurdles to get here. Now I have an actual race to run and I want to get FAST!
Will you be at the finish too? Decide…
Is it really ever the problem or the solution??? Does weight exist alone, does it develop by itself, and does it live independent from, say, lifestyle, nutrition, personal choices, and physical fitness???
Again, it is one of my pet peeves of the media mind twisting and the individual responsibility taking, when we do not address the actual problem, we do not try to fix what’s wrong, we do not build from a foundation, but we do single out something from the whole picture that can be quick-fixed and marketed and blamed. Focus on your weight. Stress about it. Get depressed about it. Keep it in check with pills and crash diets. Do the water and air diet, the Hollywood diet, the i-don’t-eat-real-food diet, and watch your weight drop! Then what…? Go back to your regular life. And watch your weight get out of whack again. Why? Because weight alone, is not anything. It’s not your enemy, it is simply the end result, the end value that depicts your personal choices, your lifestyle, your fitness habits and your state of physical fitness. There! Who wudda thunk it? Now, the problem we’re facing is much bigger, isn’t it?? What do we fix first? Because all the above listed facets that make up, pretty much, our whole life, are not easily fixed. At all. That’s why.
So I say it again: there are no shortcuts! If you want real results that will enrich and extend your life, than you must be honest with yourself in the first place. Admit the problem. Chances are, it’s not all of those but one or maybe two things. Let’s say you hire a personal trainer to get yourself motivated and started on the path to regular physical exercise. You pay him for three months and you work out religiously for three months. Then it’s over and you start dropping off, forgetting your routines, you have no accountability or commitment to an outside source, you quit. Waste of money… You failed to search within and find what you like, something enjoyable. You failed to learn your sessions, not just do them. You failed to make plans for when you’re on your own, and a new commitment to yourself to stay in the game. You failed to set a goal.
Or let’s say you pay good money to be part of this awesome diet plan, furnishing meals and systems by which you can monitor your indulgence and still pat yourself on the back. And you are dropping the pounds, measuring and grinning and starving yourself, or fooling yourself. Then the program stops and life happens. Again, you fail. You fail because you failed before when life “happened”, that is why you got here in the first place. You fail, because you wanted a quick fix and didn’t think about the future. Didn’t educate yourself and didn’t commit to make better choices and stick with them for life. No one taught you how to, they just helped you drop the weight.
So see, you set yourself up for failure, and invest your time and money to get nothing in return. You have not addressed the actual issue and have not committed to make lifelong changes, have not found a way to enjoy this process so you can maintain it. No shortcuts, guys! None! And I don’t just preach this, I have lived it in many horrible ways I don’t care to share on the world wide web, just believe me when I say this: I saved my own life, and have jumped many hurdles to get here. Now I have an actual race to run and I want to get FAST!
Will you be at the finish too? Decide…
Sunday, January 13, 2008
so what IS new?
Wow, I really haven’t written anything (to you guys) in almost two weeks! Not that my mind has been vacant or that my life has been stagnant (stagnant, what’s that?), it’s just that I had TOO much on my mind and TOO much life to manage. I’m sure you’ve all been here, and revisit this busy place every now and again.
And I’ve just figured it out… I know what I want to do different this year and from this point forward: I want to slow down. Yes, all this speediness and deadlines and squeezing another client in and another run and another lesson, why? All this cursing drivers loudly while driving because I have a definite destination that I must reach in the most efficient way possible while all others just seem to be in my way… why? The destination will be there 3 minutes later, a client will come back to work whenever I am available and the other drivers cannot hear me, nor will they become faster, and more efficient, just the way I want them to be for my sake.
I will slow down and take out my guitar for a little practice, I will slow down and miss running days if I am too tired, and I will slow down and actually listen to what my husband is saying while I am doing three other things and only hearing his voice. I will call my brothers more often and I will skip study days if I think I can ‘wing it’ and be OK with an A-. OK, maybe a B. I will take time. I will listen, really listen. I will help, instead of expecting things to go my way and everyone to get out of my way. I will read more and take care of my home, my family and myself, my body and my soul. I will go to the theater and watch new foreign movies. I will savor what taking time tastes like.
Because I know, somewhere, in the back of my head, there are distant memories of slow kisses and melting chocolate, easy weekend runs and quiet swoops in the swing in the warm sunlight breaking through the trees… and you know what, isn’t that what life is all about? I think it is. I think it is.
And I’ve just figured it out… I know what I want to do different this year and from this point forward: I want to slow down. Yes, all this speediness and deadlines and squeezing another client in and another run and another lesson, why? All this cursing drivers loudly while driving because I have a definite destination that I must reach in the most efficient way possible while all others just seem to be in my way… why? The destination will be there 3 minutes later, a client will come back to work whenever I am available and the other drivers cannot hear me, nor will they become faster, and more efficient, just the way I want them to be for my sake.
I will slow down and take out my guitar for a little practice, I will slow down and miss running days if I am too tired, and I will slow down and actually listen to what my husband is saying while I am doing three other things and only hearing his voice. I will call my brothers more often and I will skip study days if I think I can ‘wing it’ and be OK with an A-. OK, maybe a B. I will take time. I will listen, really listen. I will help, instead of expecting things to go my way and everyone to get out of my way. I will read more and take care of my home, my family and myself, my body and my soul. I will go to the theater and watch new foreign movies. I will savor what taking time tastes like.
Because I know, somewhere, in the back of my head, there are distant memories of slow kisses and melting chocolate, easy weekend runs and quiet swoops in the swing in the warm sunlight breaking through the trees… and you know what, isn’t that what life is all about? I think it is. I think it is.
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