Winds Of Change…

I’m going to deviate from my usual subject matter and talk about change.

One thing I have learned is that life likes to come along and shake things up every now and then. I never get too comfortable in my life “routines” because I know it will change. I don’t fear change like I used to. There was a time when I just wanted my life to stay exactly the same and never change because I feared what might happen.

I don’t feel like that anymore. I’ve had so many changes it seems hard to believe that I believed my life would just remain the same forever. Jobs, relationships, houses, cars etc etc.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m going through another life change at the moment, which has prompted me to be mulling this over more than usual. It’s not something that has come out of the blue. I knew it was coming and there have been times over the past while where I was terrified, anxious, sad, but now I’m just…calm. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad?? All I know is I’m calm because I’ve come to the conclusion that I always come to. Life happens the way it’s supposed to. I truly believe that. That belief gives me a lot of peace. Sounds kinda cooky I know, but it’s what I believe.

I used to be very anxious about things I couldn’t control. Now you can see why I never wanted my life to change! It took me a long time to learn to “go with the flow” and accept that I can’t control most of the things in life, but know that everything will work out how it’s meant to. 

I try very hard to remain positive. I also send out positive thoughts. I wish for things to work out for everyone I’m connected to.  I’m in closer contact with some more than others, but it doesn’t matter. Positive vibes go a long way 🙂 It’s not always possible to physically be there to offer a helping hand to people who are experiencing changes and tough times, so I just figure I’ll keep them in my thoughts and send along the positivity.

So if there is anyone out there who is riding the waves of change like me, stay positive, good things will come your way 🙂 

  

Simple…

Don’t complicate healthy living 🙂

Happy Monday…have a great week 🙂

So…

As I mentioned yesterday I haven’t been around here for ohhhh ten months.

Partly because I just didn’t feel like it, but more because I wasn’t really living a “healthy” life. Kind of hypocritical to have a healthy living themed blog and not be doing it.

I had to take a step back and reevaluate what it was I was trying to achieve with myself. If the goal I was trying to achieve was healthy living I was failing miserably. I had pretty much no motivation, my fitness was pretty lame as were my eating habits.

Long story short…I decided I needed to find the enjoyment again in just being healthy. I had to do activities because I wanted to. Not because I felt I had something to prove. I had to stop tooting my horn on a blog and just get to it. That’s exactly what I did.

I didn’t do anything earth shattering I just got back to the very simple concept of trying to live a healthy life and find enjoyment in it. Done and done.

I stopped posting everything little thing I did on social media. I made a point of stopping that habit. I just felt like this is something that I’m doing for me and I just wanted to keep it private. This has actually become really important to me. In a world where everyone posts everything on social media I just want my workouts to be my own private thing. Yes, yes it’s weird I know. It’s even more weird to start writing on a blog that is about healthy living when you have a “rule” about not talking about your workouts on social media….right?? Normally the answer would be yes, but allow me to explain.

I’m here again because I have a lot of ups and downs with trying to be active and healthy. It’s not something that comes easy or naturally to me, never has. That’s what I want to be writing about, the experience. I don’t want to be focusing on just what I’m doing, but rather, the big picture. Working out is just one aspect and I don’t want a blog that is just filled with “lists” of things I’m doing. The original point of this blog was to share my journey and experiences with trying to live healthy. I got totally away from that concept and just started rambling on about all the stuff I was doing and honestly…I got sick of listening to it.

So, there you have it in a nutshell. I’m getting back to being here because I enjoyed it at one point and I want to again. All part of the big picture and the journey….

TTFN 🙂

Not Forgotten…I Hope!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been around these parts! Ten months actually!

I guess I should say hello then. So….hello 🙂 I’ve been reading posts from others, but I just wasn’t feeling the whole blog writing thing.

To be honest it was more than not feeling the whole writing thing…I felt like I was saying the words and not following through with them as I wanted to.

I guess you could say I took the past ten months for an attitude adjustment! Yet again 🙂

I’m feeling good. I have some new and different outlooks and I just feel like being here again.

This is how I try to start everyday 🙂

See you soon!

Just One Of Those Weeks….

Last week was a crappy week. Yep that about sums it up!

I threw in the towel and took time out for a pity party. I didn’t workout all week and I didn’t care! I wasn’t really sure I was going to bother anymore. Like I said it was a bad, bad week.

However, I still made plans with my running buddy for our Sunday run. 5:30am rolled around this morning and I was very close to canceling, but I didn’t.

I picked myself up, got ready and went for the run. I really didn’t want to, but I’m glad I did.

I felt really good after. I stopped pouting and, once again, I picked myself upand dusted myself off. I’ve vowed to keep on going and to not quit! I’ve got my run for next Sunday scheduled. Hopefully the weather will be a little better so my bike will make an appearance at some point.

Never quit. Keep on going. No matter what!

Long Weekend=Strong Weekend!

It’s the fourth an final day of the Easter long weekend. What a great weekend it’s been 🙂

I had a dose of energizer bunny happening this weekend! Or spring fever….either way it’s been a fitness popping weekend!

Friday wasn’t the nicest day, but I managed to get out for a 5K run and then in the afternoon my hubby and I went for a quick 10K bike ride. The weather was actually really crappy at this point. It was cold and windy, but we sucked it up and did a quick ride 🙂

Sunday was an awesome day for me!! I was up at 5:30am and ready to go for my Sunday run with my buddy. I decided last weekend to just run at least 10K from now until my 10K run in May. We met in my parking lot at 6:30 and headed out for our run. It was a beautiful morning. We had a great run.

I felt great when I got home! I had a ton of energy. I started my housework and started getting Easter dinner ready. I took a break from all that exciting stuff and my hubby and I went for an amazing 23K bike ride 🙂

I felt even better when I got home. The energy I had was great. I put it to good use and finished up Easter dinner. My hubby and I enjoyed a very yummy vegetarian dinner 🙂

This morning dawned warm and sunny. I actually had no intentions of doing any working out today, but that changed. My hubby got ready for a bike ride and at the last minute I decided to go. I’m very glad I did! We enjoyed a warm and beautiful 25km ride along the water.

When we got home we had a very impromptu afternoon. We enjoyed 3 hours of warmth, sun, food, drink and great conversation in our backyard.

What an amazing weekend! Between running and biking I enjoyed 72km of cardio bliss 🙂 I also enjoyed great food and great company with my hubby and my running buddy.

Doesn’t get any better than this. I feel truly happy and content…

I Love Myself Today….

It doesn’t happen very often, especially on a Monday, but I woke up in a great mood 🙂 One of those moods where everything is just….good 🙂

Maybe it’s because it’s spring, maybe it’s because I had a great weekend, maybe it’s because it’s a short week and an extra looooong weekend coming up, maybe it’s just a combination of all of those things. Whatever the reason is…I feel great.

Usually when I get ready for work I just kinda feel like I look acceptable to head out the door. Some mornings I really don’t like the way I look at all and I drag myself to work feeling kinda meh. A lifetime of weight and self esteem issues will leave you with some ….ah….issues! This morning I just thought I looked pretty darn good 😉 It’s very rare for me to say that! I mean it’s as rare as a Bigfoot sighting 😉

I feel like I’m starting to see some results from my efforts. Well….that’s how I feel today, tomorrow might be a different story. I’m not really thinking about that. I’m just enjoying the mood of today!

My mood could have something to do with something I was thinking about yesterday. Why do I care so much about certain things? Why do I let things that are silly bother me at times? As expected, I didn’t have a good answer. It seems silly to worry about things and people who are….well….irrelevant. So, I came to this conclusion….

What a liberating feeling! Now I just have to remember it and stick to it 🙂 Clearly it makes for a much happier existence.

Have a wonderful, happy Monday!

Spring Fever

Spring has really been in the air the past few days! It’s about time 🙂

I’m not sure if it’s because of the weather, but my mind has been everywhere wanting to do it all. I’m sure it is due to the weather. When you’ve been cooped up for four months it tends to get to you! I’ve been checking out new fitness things to try. I’m looking for something new and different to add to my fitness life. I haven’t quite decided what I want to take on? The problem with wanting to do everything is having the time to do everything! That’s always my problem. I have this little eight hour thang that I do everyday called work that kinda gets in the way sometimes;)! And to say it’s been SUPER busy at work is an understatement! 

I have some ideas in mind of what I want to start, but before I pull the trigger and commit I want to really look at my schedule and make sure I can squeeze something else in. Probably sounds a bit crazy to be seeing if I can fit in fitness, but you see yesterday was our first bike ride of the season. Now I have running and biking that will take up a lot of my time. I need to see if it’s doable or insane to try to add a new “program” style workout to my schedule?? I want to be fit and active. I want to enjoy everything I’m doing, not dread it and drag my feet through it! 

Back to the above mentioned bike ride. Mine and my hubby’s first, much anticipated, ride of the season. It was my first ride on my road bike. I was a little nervous about that. I’m not really the most graceful or coordinated gal! I was worried about learning the gears, I was worried about the cages on the pedals, I was worried about where the brakes were located, I was worried about the more aggressive style of riding. Let me just say…..I was worried for nothing!! I got on to do a little paractice ride around our area. OMG….as soon as I started peddling I was IN LOVE! All my worries went down the drain once I started going. Boy, did I GO. I felt like I was riding on a cloud. The bike is so light and sleek I was riding like the wind. I got how the gears worked after a couple minutes of riding. The cages on the pedals were a bit challenging but I did OK with them. If they were the clip less pedals it would have been a different story! We went on a quick 11KM ride it was awesome! I just love being on my bike. I absolutely love it! I didn’t think it was possible to be in love with a bike, but after yesterday I am here to tell you, it is very possible. I can’t wait to get out there again.

In the end it doesn’t really matter if I add something new to my fitness life or if I just stick with the things I like. All I care about is being active and loving the things I’m doing. Speaking of loving what I do….I have to say goodbye for now and go get ready for my Sunday run with my two gals 🙂

Have a great day, stay healthy and love what you do 🙂

Sunday Runday

Sunday morning. I was up at 6:45am. Why on earth would I do that? Because today was my planned run with my two best friends. By the weeks end we had a trio instead of a duo. The two people that I’ve known the longest, aside from my hubby and family! I had been genuinely looking forward to this all week. My hopes were that it would distract me from my running mental block!

The sun was shining and it was warmish. We had a 6.5km run planned, but we were open to more or less if that’s how it went. We started out and I had a few minutes of panic. A few minutes of “Oh God I can’t do this!” Those thoughts were quickly pushed to the side as we got going and got chatting. I’m going to go out on a limb and say…it was fun 🙂 We didn’t chat the whole time, but even the periods of silence were ok. It was nice to be running with friends.

I never really paid much attention to people when they said running could be a social thing. I kind of dismissed it. They were right. Before I knew it the run was over. Just like that it was over and I was very happy. We did a 6km run. It was a slow run. It was a slow pace, but I was ok with that.

I came out of the run with a completely new train of thought. Neither of my friends track pace or distance. I was the one who brought my phone and tracked the run with an app. Both of them just open their front doors and….go! Both are at different levels of running, but both just run because they want to run. Huh….imagine that!! Here I am obsessing about distance and pace and missing the whole enjoyment of the activity.

By the time we finished all I could think was….what does it matter how far or how fast? Why have you been obsessing about all that? I couldn’t give myself a good answer. The one comment that really stuck in my head and contributed to this shift in my thinking was this…”I don’t pay attention to distance or pace. I just run. If I want to run faster I run faster if I want to run slower I run slower.” Simple. So simple.

This run today was just what I needed to give me some perspective and some confidence. My attitude now is just get out there and do it and more importantly….ENJOY IT!

The three of us said our goodbyes and made plans to do it again next Sunday….I’m already counting down the days 🙂

Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

I’m a very solitary person. Not to say that I don’t have friends or that I don’t like people. I’m actually a pretty social gal, when I’m in social settings. Heck I’d go out on a limb and say I can be the life of the party! The rest of the time I’m very solitary. I like to just mingle around in my own head. I like to do things on my own.

On that note. That’s how I run….on my own with my music on. Living in my head. Usually I like it and I’m fine, but I think it’s my mind that has me freaked out. I feel I have developed a case of “runners block.” Now I’m not making an excuse! I know I have a lot of work to do, but I think I’ve gotten myself totally convinced that I “can’t” run outside. I know, I know it sounds insane! Or maybe it doesn’t. I don’t know if anyone has ever had this happen?? It’s honestly like….stage fright. As soon as I get out there I get freaked out. As soon as I start I think “Oh God I can’t do this. My legs hurt, I have a stitch in my side, I can’t breath properly” it’s like a running panic attack!!! Sometimes being me is rough!

I had a long chat with my friend yesterday. You know my running friend, that one. She asked me to start running with her on the weekends. Her and I. Eek! She’s asked me this for years and I’ve kind of avoided it. This will sound crazy, but I’m just so far out of her league it’s embarrassing. The fact that she humors me by running 5 and 10k’s with me is comical. I told her that I stink bad. Like not worth her time stink bad. She doesn’t care about any of that. She honestly just wants to run with a friend. She genuinely wants to help.

She gave me her take on the whole situation I’ve got happening. She said I was being way to critical and I was wayyyy over thinking it and I have a mental block. Huh…maybe she was onto something? She reminded me that I ran a WHOLE 10K with her less than a year ago. Yes this is true. She basically summed it up by saying I have to stop obsessing about distance, time, pace blah blah and I have to just run. Just run and find my comfortable pace and just go. Sounds so easy when she says it!

So I have agreed to run with her this weekend. I’m very nervous, which is insane! I’ve known this girl forever! I’ve run with her before. She pretty much dragged me through the finish line of the above mentioned 10K! I was in tears and wanted to just stop, but she grabbed my hand and pulled me up the last killer hill and pretty much propelled me forward to the finish.

I’m hoping that by running with her casually it will snap me out of this insane mental block I’m having. I mean I’ve done this before. I’ve been running all winter. Come on snap out of it!!!!