The Journey Continues - Week 1
Well, time flies when you're having fun -- ha!
Last month I wrote about my quest to pay more attention to my own health here. This is the ultimate in baring myself to my readers, is it not? A Health Educator revealing that she's noticed a decline in her habits that has resulted in some unwanted results -- it requires a bit of pride-swallowing.
My original motivation was to get back in dancing shape for my upcoming recital. I had gained 15 pounds and with it had lost muscle, flexibility, and endurance.
Week one was, well, not fun at all.
If you've ever tried a lifestyle change of any sort, be it health-related or otherwise, this will not come as a shock to you. We get in to our habits, don't we? And trying to change those takes some doing. I find that for me, the first part of a change is the most difficult.
When it comes to food and movement, that can show up as detoxing (headaches, hunger, grouchiness) and muscle soreness (whoops, haven't used that muscle group in a while, have we? Um, excuse me, ma'am -- could you possibly pick up that pencil I just dropped? I, well, uh....can't squat down today. Thanks.). So I push through. Because quitting is not an option. I just started, for goodness' sakes, of course it will be hard!
But being in this space, I recognize that this is the part where many of us give up. We skip a morning run. We forget we were laying off the sugar. We neglect to pack a snack and end up starving, with that drive-through window beckoning to us. There's a birthday party and everyone else is having cake. Life gives us any number of challenges... and sometimes we succeed in ignoring the beckoning. And sometimes we don't.
It's such a difficult thing to try to live a healthy lifestyle in the world today.
With all of the companies marketing to us and with our culture buying into what they tell us, we think we "need" all of the junk that's out there. It feels easier to sit on the couch and watch a movie. It feels like it's more fun to eat our chips, cookies, and ice cream. And if we're just looking at the short-term, it can be. However... I can't unlearn what I know, both through my education and through my firsthand experience with clients, friends, and relatives.
I know that this lifestyle of ours is doing us more harm than good.
So I take a deep breath and walk past the table full of pastries at my church's Sunday morning coffee hour. I go out with a friend to celebrate an event and I'm the one who orders the ahi tuna carpaccio and the grilled brussels sprouts. Is it easy? NO! Is it worth it? YES.
So, week one brought some successes. A few pounds lighter, a few muscles stronger, and a few apologizes for snapping my family's head off later... We move on to week 2.
See you soon.