Challenges

Finding Strength & Motivation in Challenges

Posted on by Daisy9979

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m in a workout slump so I’m trying out different things to help me keep moving.  I’m still working out but it’s inconsistent.  I’m struggling to get myself back into a routine.  My one consistent is an evening walk, usually at least 30 minutes every night so I’m not completely morphing back into a couch potato but I did have a pretty serious Netflix marathon the other day….okay, maybe I had a couple days of marathon TV watching 😳

I read about the #1MillionMinutesChallenge on Carrie’s blog Constructing Carrie in her post here.  I decided to check out Fit Approach and the challenge.  As someone who still considers herself new to the fitness world I loved finding this resource of a whole community offering advice and support.  The #1MillionMinutesChallenge is designed to help motivate people to keep moving during these hot summer months so it runs from June 21 to August 21.

All you have to do is sign up then log your active minutes onto the website.  Sounds like there will be prizes along the way but I like the idea of contributing to the challenge of reaching one million active minutes.  Right now I’m struggling to not want to camp out by the phone (I know we’re not talking about “that” but I’ll have a quick update today) instead of getting outside and living my life.

Committing myself to challenges has helped reignite my motivation so this morning I wrote out a workout schedule for the rest of the week:

T:  Evening Garden walk-3 miles
W:  Gym, Morning garden walk-3 miles & 30 minute evening walk
T:  Gym, Morning trail walk-3 miles & 30 minute evening walk
F:  Evening trail walk-3 miles
S:  Gym-Farmers Market walk & 30 minute evening walk

The days I’m not in the gym I’m going to be doing light strength training at home plus I’m doing the 31 Day Core Challenge (which is definitely challenging!!!).  I’m trying to do all the exercises but sometimes have to break them up into 2 little mini challenges but I keep trying 😀

I’ve been feeling sore since increasing my activity again but I know the soreness will pass and have to keep reminding myself how much better I feel when I’m active.  I also have to remind myself how far I’ve come since I started working out, a year ago I would’ve felt overwhelmed at the prospect of walking 15+ miles in a week and would’ve been happy getting in 3-5 miles.

After spending most of Sunday and Monday holed up in my apartment getting out for a long walk last night felt really good!  (Plus when I go outside I can get great sunset pics like the one above from the Fourth)  It can be challenging to keep moving when it’s so hot outside but it’s not impossible and these challenges are helping me stay motivated!  🙂

Anyone else doing the #1MillionMinutesChallenge or have any other challenge that helps keep you moving?

It’s Thursday!!!!

Posted on by Daisy9979

At 4:30 this morning I heard the familiar sounds of a cat throwing up in the hallway *sigh* 😦

I didn’t want to get up but knew I had to clean, give the cat medicine, and make sure he was doing okay.  Oddly, I felt very awake during this whole ordeal and began to think I could just be up for the day, maybe go to the gym but around 6:30 exhaustion hit me again so back to bed.

I decided as I lay in bed unable to open my eyes at 8:30 that today would be the perfect day to try out an evening workout.  When I get a job I’ll probably have to go work out in the evening anyways so this will be good to see how I enjoy it plus I have to swing by a friend’s place on that side of town tonight so it all works out.

To reiterate, not skipping the gym today just going later and I’m still going to do a short walk at the arboretum once my laundry is done.  I’ve been avoiding doing laundry since I came back from vacation so I decided I needed to just get it done today.  Plus in my cleaning mode this week I’m washing all the extra sheets and bedding that have been tucked away.

Changing topics because laundry is super boring unless you guys enjoy reading about laundry in which case I could probably write about it more…….. 😛

I gave up my 100 Happy Days Challenge.  At one point I fell behind for a few days then was going to post a bunch to catch up but with the interview and my trip I finally accepted I wasn’t going to make it through the challenge.  I guess that’s why they call it a challenge because it can be challenging, not to find things you’re happy about but to constantly express those things to the world.

I really did try but I think that was part of the problem I was trying too hard then it become an effort to find something I was happy about so I could post a picture of it.  I guess I was successful in realizing you can’t always capture the things that make you happy.

Last Sunday my best friend and I went for a walk in the morning then went grocery shopping so we could make lunch and dinner.  It was a nice day.  It made me happy and while I did post some pics of our walk mostly I just wanted to enjoy the time.  I really did like the idea of the challenge and it was fun for a few days but when it began to feel like a chore I had to give it up.

As we near the end of the week I replay the words from my interview “should have an answer by the end of next week” “should have” meaning there is a possibility of not having an answer this week!

I’m trying to stay calm but realized yesterday I missed the days when you could pick up a phone to check for a dial tone to make sure your phone was working.  I sent a text message to a friend as a test and called a number I knew was an automated system just to make sure my phone was working okay (yes, I’m crazy).  Last night before I went to bed I had a good feeling about today but with the sick cat and the weird dream.

The part of the dream I remember is I was supposed to receive an e-mail that would give me further instructions for hire but I never received the e-mail and it was so frustrating because no one believed me…..They said I should have responded but they would see what they could do to get me hired, so it ended kind of good but weird.

When I start dreaming about this I know it’s dominating my thoughts so I’m hoping a good walk today will help clear my mind a bit.  I was considering leaving my phone at home so I couldn’t check my email every 10 minutes but then I also don’t want to miss any calls…..but that’s what voicemail is for so it might not be the worst to leave the phone for an hour.

Allergic to “E” challenge

Posted on by Daisy9979

***UPDATED**I’ve updated this post with a link to the original challenge so if you’re doing the challenge please add the link.  Thanks! 🙂

Here are the rules of the Allergic to “E” Challenge from Redefining Random:
1.Write a whole paragraph (a paragraph sounds easy right?) without any word containing the letter “e” (still easy for ya?)
2.By reading this you are already signed up.
3.Challenge at least five bloggers to do the challenge.
4.They must do it within 24 hours or it is considered as failure.
5.If you fail or pass, suffer in the Page of Lame.
6.If you win, wallow in the Page of Fame.

The rules are a bit chain lettery (yes, it’s a word, although I might have just made it up) and I don’t know if there really is a Page of Lame or a Page of Fame but I love words so I thought this would be fun, definitely more challenging than I thought it would be.  I did bust out my old thesaurus, yes I know there’s one online but I love my 20 year old thesaurus.  I couldn’t find another word for week and honestly when will I get to use the word fortnight in a post again?  Enjoy!  😀

I can’t wait for tomorrow morning.  I’m planning a trip in proximity to my accommodations as I want a good walk.  In my turmoil about my job discussion on Thursday my brain frantically took to opting to stop all forthcoming affairs this half a fortnight to focus on forming a plan for my job discussion but thankfully I understood that’s silly.  Not going for a walk now that I will go to a job discussion in half a fortnight is ridiculous so tomorrow morning I will go for a woodland walk.  Actually I think a jaunt will pardon my mind as I go into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, days I must train for my job discussion.  I wish you a good night!  I’ll scrawl words tomorrow with significantly outstanding calm and with a vital symbol back in my words.

Scrolling through posts I see the few I had in mind have already been challenged well, as with all challenges if the post inspires you to want to jump in I say start writing but no “e’s”….It’s more challenging than you might think….I’m hoping I didn’t miss any but if I did call me out on it 🙂