Starting Over

I’m a bit embarrassed.

Let me explain:

😔 You know that feeling of dusting off your bathroom scale from early 2020… and the feeling you get seeing the number?
Or,
😔 That feeling you get when you’ve been eating SO HEALTHY all day, but then a full Ben & Jerry’s is empty…and you feel pretty ashamed with yourself?

Right now feels a little like that.

Once upon a time, I was doing pretty good.
I was healthy, fit, and able to crush my goals.

Today, I tried to repeat the picture below.

I knew I wouldn’t come close to the weight.
But oh, how I have backslided.

😔
I know I’m not alone… right?

Every time you think “why couldn’t I just have been BETTER?”
Every time you think “How did I get here.. again??”
Every time you think “I just can’t do this.”

For you, it might be something else you used to be “good” at
And now, you’re not.
☠️ Addiction
☠️ Overeating
☠️ Not exercising
☠️ Goals not met
☠️ Dreams never realized

It sucks.

The way I see it, there are 2 options:
1. Give up. Wake up to the idea that “I’m NEVER going to be better. Why try?”
2. Start over. Begin again. Swallow my pride, my ego and…. get going.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to repeat the weight I lifted in this photo.
But I’m going to start trying.

BUT: Not with any self hostility.
THIS time… with a positive inward view.

One that I can live with long term.
Not self judgmental or self flagellating.

Something uplifting.
Something like this:

Begin Again.
Begin Again.
Begin Again.
💙

One Mile for Life

Phew, so I’m about to commit to something pretty major…

I will run at least one mile a day, every day.  No matter what.  Ok, maybe if I get sick or injured I won’t run it, but I will cover one mile at least.

The idea started when I was in Bolivia last year and a girl in the house said she had been doing this for years.  She was a super fast runner and was in amazing shape, and when I brought it up to a friend, he had heard of others making this same commitment.  Apparently there’s other people online who have come up with all kinds of rules for this, like being in full running gear for that mile to qualify.

I’m turning 28 next week and figure it’ll be a good point to start so that in the future I can count up how many years I’ve kept up the commitment.  Plus once you do get into full running gear, it’s pretty easy to just go ahead and do a full workout.  The bonus of committing to just one mile is that I can use it as a warmup for a weightbuilding workout, so if I did a long run the day before I can still stay active the next day.  Last week I ran 13.1 on Monday but felt like doing something Tuesday, so I walked around the San Diego Zoo for a few hours.

This is kinda scary to go out there and publicly announce, as I hope to really stick to it!  I will cover one mile minimum every day!!  I know it’ll be hard on days that I’m really stressed, sick, injured, etc. but I hope to stay motivated by knowing it’s an inevitability, just another part of your routine.  Like brushing your teeth, emptying the trash, or cooking dinner.  I’m not looking forward to this but I know I’ll thank myself later 🙂

Surprise to me from myself

I’m actually looking forward to working out every day now, even days I lift weights!  Two weeks ago I never would have thought that.  What, me, lifting and pool running?  No way.

In the past two weeks I’ve kept to a pretty solid cardio/strengthing routine and I think what keeps me upbeat and sticking to it is how it feels at the end of the day… the miracles of exercise are never ending!  More energy, better sleep, craving for healthy foods, appetite easily satiated, better mood, etc. etc.  Yesterday someone passed me and said “what happened, you look so happy!”  “Just came back from the gym,” I said with a smile on my face. 

Who knew there was more to exercise than just running?!