Sunday, August 9, 2015

I'm back again

I ran into a hiccup in the decluttering project. I had a person who was willing to take so much of my baby stuff but has to work on her own decluttering to make room for it all. I really want to pass it along to her because I know she needs it and she's a friend but I'm frustrated in how much it holds me back. She's ok with me not being able to wait on her, but there's something about giving to those you know that makes it easier to part with things, especially those that hold cherished memories.

Around mid-July, I ended up tacking on another "decluttering" project (if you will): a healthier lifestyle. This process has brought up old thoughts about getting healthy and I finally got to the point where I was willing to wake up early to exercise (something I was previously resistant to). So in mid-July, I started waking up an hour earlier than usual to get up and walk. I do in-home exercises so I have no excuses (like weather and having to drive) and give myself days off to recover. I'm averaging about 4 days per week right now and was up to 2 miles before my camping trip last week. A few years ago, I did the same camping trip and a lady in my camp woke up early everyday to walk. I wasn't willing to join her that time but this year, knowing it was coming up, I asked her about how long her walk was, if she was doing it again, and if I could join her. It turned out it was about 2 miles and she was willing. So I started walking to get myself ready for walking with her. We drove up to camp on Saturday the 1st and I walked with her everyday from Sunday through Friday. We started around 1.5 miles (45 minutes) and ended the week around 2.5 miles in 60-ish minutes. There were some late nights in there and really cold mornings when I didn't want to wake up or get out of bed, but I did and never regretted it. With all the extra walking about the site throughout the rest of the day, I think I ended up walking around 5 miles per day. I know being back in real life, that's not a realistic thing to keep up, but I do still plan on going back to my normal routine. I have not worked that hard on changing my diet (that has too many complications for me to think about right now), but I'm proud I'm at least doing something. And with the stall in home decluttering, it's nice having another personal project to work on. Also, with the impending increase to stress at work, I'm glad I have an exercise routine already in place to help alleviate it.