What’s this? Two updates in one week? While I normally just update once a week (or that’s the plan anyway – life happens), I felt like I had to get these thoughts down while they’re still lurking.
As I’ve said before, I’m doing the planking challenge, and had thought about adding the squat challenge to it as well. Last night the plank challenge went from 45 seconds to 60 seconds, skipping over the 50s entirely. Telling myself I could surely do it, I got out my timer, got into position, and made it 45 seconds before I went down. After resting on the floor for a little bit, I took a deep breath, got back up into position, and restarted the timer that I had killed on my way down. I got to 60 and told myself that I should do ten more seconds as a penalty for stopping. I felt good after doing 70 seconds… like I was taking charge of things and not letting my lazy patterns take over. I then did the ten initial squats of the squat challenge.
Tonight, round two of 60 seconds of planking and 15 squats. I had a little help from one of the cats who decided standing under me while I planked would be a good idea. It did help keep me up so I didn’t squash the dear! I was so thrilled when I got to 60 seconds with only a little struggle. After a moment in child’s pose, I got up and did my squats. It felt so good to meet both challenges today. Was either accomplishment all that major? No. Does that make it any less worthwhile or awesome? Heck no! It gives me encouragement to continue with the challenges, eating well, and doing other physical activity. To me, it’s far more important to have little accomplishments along the way, than nothing before one giant accomplishment. Solid foundations are so important in life, and for me, the little accomplishments build up into habits that support something major.
Speaking of other activity, I went for a walk with my coworkers this afternoon. We kept a brisk pace for 15 minutes and walked the neighborhood around our new office. Turns out, a new cafe that’s related to an organization that helps out mentally challenged folks, opened up a block away. Their menu looks really good and pretty healthy too – some awesome salads. I also started off my day with doing sun salutations for a nice stretch.
Not only am I noticing some changes physically, I’m also noticing a few other happy changes. I’m able to wake up earlier and I feel less groggy when I roll out of bed, and I’m also doing better at keeping things tidy around the house. Huzzah for physical activity!
Whispering Willow 