health + fitness / life / wellness

moving forward.

• by kerri

Hello, exercise, I am back. Nothing like a lapse to make you really appreciate moving forward.

I would like to mention that this lapse was not a simple I-don’t-want-to-exercise lapse. It was an injury-induced rehabilitation-esque lapse, thanks to some sort of patellar tendon injury, or something of that nature.  Really the lapse started before the injury. I may not rock at nutrition, but I was doing better than, say, last year, prior to the lapse. And the journalling? I derailed on that for over two weeks. This is why Lent is not my thing. Add that this is the last Sunday before Easter and I am choosing to sleep instead of go to church. With the excuse that it is too complicated to figure out rides and it has been a long week and I would rather sleep. Honestly, I can’t seem to stick with anything anymore.

[This is Resistance, people.]

Now that I’ve finished making myself sound like a bad person who doesn’t care about anything, what am I doing about it?

  • The stir-fry thing today was a Good Thing as far as restaurant choices go. Could be worse, yes?
  • I went to the stir-fry place with my friend Jess who I have not seen for a long time. So awesome.
  • I did an hour on the trampoline today, plus ~3K walking. This needs to stick around.
  • I am done tutoring, and have wrapped up the 22-hour-work-week-while-going-to-school. Classes are [mostly] done. Good time to begin the journey again? Yes. Always a good time.
  • Paying closer attention to the Fitbit. 
    • My Fitbit friends Mike, Mike and Ashley are good motivators. [Are you on Fitbit? Add me as a friend!] I have yet to do a full post on the Fitbit, but the best thing about it is that it logs ALL of my physical activity, not just exercise. And everything adds up!
  • I am aware of the journalling issue. And I am changing the pattern.
  • Focusing on the Good Things.

Last night, when I re-opened the journal and realized the lapse I took off. In part:

it is not bad

but i am not balanced

cause i just woke / to eat some chocolate / and go straight back / i’ll go straight back to bed / where’s my head?

[where’s my head?, copeland]

body. heart. mind. spirit.

mind strong / body strong / try to find / equillibrium

[sound of winter, bush]

i.can.do.better.


I can do better.

change stops in your mind, leave the past behind, forget everything you know

make a change, let go. […]

stay on top if they let you. ’cause the change is permanent.

[fear, creed]

So, once again, going in to April, it is time to awaken.

Go.

books

“the road of least resistance”

• by kerri

I’m on the road of least resistance / I’d rather give up than give in to this.

Promises Promises, Incubus

Over the summer, I read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield [yes, please note: The WAR of ART, not The Art of War], on recommendation by my friend Drew.  As one of the reviews says, it is a kick in the ass.  Unfortunately, it seems that I have left my copy of the book at the cabin.  Fortunately, the website for the book provides the exact section of the book that immediately hit me the hardest and forced me to read it several times in a row to fully comprehend.  This is the section on defining Resistance with a capital R.

Late at night, have you experienced a vision of the person you might become, the work you could accomplish, the realized being you were meant to be? Are you a writer who doesn’t write, a painter who doesn’t paint, an entrepreneur who never starts a venture? Then you know what Resistance is. […] To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

(Read more here)

Occasionally, the thought of Resistance-with-a-capital-R comes to mind.  Resistance is the force within me, or the forces around me, that freeze me.  Every time I skip a day of push-ups, every time I have “writer’s block”, every time I start a paper 48 hours before it is due, every time I hesitate on sending that e-mail that might dig too deep for somebody, every time I don’t write down a thought . . . this is Resistance.

No benefit comes of Resistance.

Each time Resistance wins, I lose.  The benefit from acting now might be small, but the loss from giving in to Resistance all adds up.  Now could have added up to hundreds of pages of writing, hundreds of good conversations, and more minutes of time with a positive impact within it.

“I’d rather give up than give in to this.”

It is now that I have.

dare you to move / kinesiology / life

promotion, adherence + goals : “go out there and do good things”

• by kerri

Sometimes, my applied health courses challenge me on a personal level.  They make me dig deeper and push harder.  They make me analyze myself and where I’m screwing up and where I’m doing well.  And where to change it.  I think [those of us who think about kinesiology, anyway] that we constantly think about how everything we learn in school can be applied in the people around us.  All the time. At least I do.  [But I’m the nerd who just watched a TED Talk at 8:00 at night because I didn’t have any kinesiology today and needed to feel like I was learning].

They make me grow.  To have school challenge you that much on a personal, not just academic, level is so awesome.

My Physical Activity: Promotion and Adherence [hereafter known as Promotion and Adherence, because that’s long enough as it is] prof is just awesome.  I may have to buy his book on Amazon to continue having him creating order in my life after this class is over.  I leave class, and all I want to do is go work out.  Seriously, the promotion and adherence thing works.  Changing the way you think works.  Change the way you think about everything, and things happen.

Things happen when you set goals and follow through with them.  Barriers are meant to be overcome.  Not just overcome . . . knock ’em down.

Photobucket

When you want what your goals are set for, it becomes cyclical.  Set goals, meet goals, happy with outcome, set more goals, meet more goals.  This diagram applies far beyond exercise.

Start small and GROW.  Be motivated.

“If you have time to spend six hours on Facebook a day, you have time to work out for 45 minutes.”  No, not just twenty as per Health Canada guidelines.  45.  Because 20 is just being lazy about trying not to be lazy and is bare minimum.

“Who hasn’t eaten in about three hours?  Who’s hungry?”  And throws out snacks to whoever puts their hands up.

“Go out there and do good things!”

. . . those are things Jay says every day.  To motivate, to encourage in the battle we all fight against Resistance.

There is a depth here.  A meaning that extends not just to others, but to yourself.  You can’t ask for the change you wish to see in others, without having a concrete handle on what it is you’re asking for within yourself. Within what you’re doing in this life.

Change your thinking.  Then change the standard of thinking.

Go out there and do good things.