The 2011 Challenge: January
The end of January marks the first updates on the the #Reverb10 prompt for my blog-along with MathNerd314 and Sunflowerakb.
Here is the prompt for those who may have missed the first post:
What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011?
How will you go about eliminating them?
How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
My list, as a reminder:
1. Debilitating headaches
2. Excuses: skipping the gym
3. Excuses: skipping cooking
4. Excuses: skipping fun
5. Work
6. Excessive worry about things over which I have absolutely no control
7. Emotional responses that are disproportionate to the situation
8. Cynicism
9. Loneliness
10. 11 pounds
11. Peas
January Update:
In January, I was pretty good about making fewer excuses. I only missed one gym day because I let myself; last Friday I had to give a talk (which was horrible), but I was so out of sorts on Thursday night that I went to bed at 9PM rather than do any work on it. Friday morning I needed time to focus on the talk and skipped the gym. I missed a few other "usual" days, too, but those were either due to illness or someone's travel. They couldn't be considered in a "wouldda-couldda-shouldda" list. I'm happy to report that in January, I attended 11 Combat classes. I've also been layering in some other classes. In January, I attended 2 Zumba classes and 1 Pump (group weightlifting) class. Zumba is new to me entirely. Now that ChemGuy's class is at 9A MWF, we're trying to be on campus around 8AM each day. Tuesday and Friday are normal combat days for me, with class at 9A. Since I'm getting to the gym by 8A, I am doing the Zumba class that is ahead of combat on those 2 mornings. I've only done it 2x so far, but it's pretty fun. As a former dancer who hasn't tried to move like that in many years or with this many odd injuries, it can be frustrating, but the teacher is great. I'm planning to keep this up. As for Pump, I used to do it 3-4x/week, but got so tired of it that in Nov 2009 I stopped entirely. I feel that Combat alone doesn't keep enough upper body work for me and wanted to get the focused bicep/tricep/chest/shoulder work that Pump offers again. This morning was my first class after 14 months off. My arms are already a bit sore. I'm planning to do Pump 2x/week on Sundays and Wednesdays after Combat.
I've not made as many excuses as usual for skipping cooking dinner. We're doing pretty well eating at home regularly. This week I made my first "dinners for the week" schedule, including prep lists for the night before. I'm hoping to a) stick to this plan and b) keep up the scheduling. Usually I find it challenging to plan a week's worth of meals at once because I change my mind about what I'd like to eat for dinner too frequently. On the other hand, I've realized that Thursday and Friday nights are my "most likely to not want to cook" night, simply because Saturday has always been my "sleep a bit later/recharge" day. Thursday and Friday are my most tiring days at work as the effect of long days compounds. I'm hoping that with plans to cook something easy or fast on Thursday and Friday evenings, I'll be less likely to skip. I'd like to make a list of meals that require very little advance work on my part, including defrosting meat, to use on Thursday and Friday nights in particular. I'm also going to pay attention for possible Tuesday dinners that can be "scaled up" to make tasty leftovers not only for lunch on campus, but also for the possibility of an easy dinner later in the week.
Fun is harder to remember not to skip. A friend visited for a long weekend, so it was easy to remember to have fun that weekend! (The "fun" included seeing an Ansel Adams exhibit and purchasing sweaters for under $2 at "Not New Branch-of-the-Military".) We should be done with the living room built-in very soon (we really are close!). Hopefully then I will be able to work in a little fun on Saturday, rather than focusing all my energy on the construction.
The headaches are about the same as ever; not as worse as at some points, but still showing up more than I'd like. I did not yet call my massage therapist. I promise to do this soon.
Numbers 6-9 are harder to work on and harder to quantify. I had some days in January when I was fraught with worry and/or upset about stuff that is out of my control. I'm going to continue to work on keeping those responses in check, but it isn't easy and it isn't a switch to flip. I don't really have much else to say about these this month.
Number 10 has to come with time. I'm not sure if any progress has been made on this front. All of you know the reasons that I cannot and will not weigh myself. I don't even let the nurses tell me that "number" at yearly physicals. I'll know when I'm getting somewhere on this one; increasing the number of fitness classes I do each week will help, but a few weeks just isn't enough time to notice progress without radical obsessive tracking. I'm just not willing to do that; it would be so counterproductive.
Happy to report that I didn't find any reason to eat peas at all this month. Even when I made them for ChemGuy as a dinner accompaniment. Go, ChemGal!!
It's not too late to join the 2011 Challenge! Just leave your url in the comments./
Here is the prompt for those who may have missed the first post:
What are 11 things your life doesn't need in 2011?
How will you go about eliminating them?
How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
My list, as a reminder:
1. Debilitating headaches
2. Excuses: skipping the gym
3. Excuses: skipping cooking
4. Excuses: skipping fun
5. Work
6. Excessive worry about things over which I have absolutely no control
7. Emotional responses that are disproportionate to the situation
8. Cynicism
9. Loneliness
10. 11 pounds
11. Peas
January Update:
In January, I was pretty good about making fewer excuses. I only missed one gym day because I let myself; last Friday I had to give a talk (which was horrible), but I was so out of sorts on Thursday night that I went to bed at 9PM rather than do any work on it. Friday morning I needed time to focus on the talk and skipped the gym. I missed a few other "usual" days, too, but those were either due to illness or someone's travel. They couldn't be considered in a "wouldda-couldda-shouldda" list. I'm happy to report that in January, I attended 11 Combat classes. I've also been layering in some other classes. In January, I attended 2 Zumba classes and 1 Pump (group weightlifting) class. Zumba is new to me entirely. Now that ChemGuy's class is at 9A MWF, we're trying to be on campus around 8AM each day. Tuesday and Friday are normal combat days for me, with class at 9A. Since I'm getting to the gym by 8A, I am doing the Zumba class that is ahead of combat on those 2 mornings. I've only done it 2x so far, but it's pretty fun. As a former dancer who hasn't tried to move like that in many years or with this many odd injuries, it can be frustrating, but the teacher is great. I'm planning to keep this up. As for Pump, I used to do it 3-4x/week, but got so tired of it that in Nov 2009 I stopped entirely. I feel that Combat alone doesn't keep enough upper body work for me and wanted to get the focused bicep/tricep/chest/shoulder work that Pump offers again. This morning was my first class after 14 months off. My arms are already a bit sore. I'm planning to do Pump 2x/week on Sundays and Wednesdays after Combat.
I've not made as many excuses as usual for skipping cooking dinner. We're doing pretty well eating at home regularly. This week I made my first "dinners for the week" schedule, including prep lists for the night before. I'm hoping to a) stick to this plan and b) keep up the scheduling. Usually I find it challenging to plan a week's worth of meals at once because I change my mind about what I'd like to eat for dinner too frequently. On the other hand, I've realized that Thursday and Friday nights are my "most likely to not want to cook" night, simply because Saturday has always been my "sleep a bit later/recharge" day. Thursday and Friday are my most tiring days at work as the effect of long days compounds. I'm hoping that with plans to cook something easy or fast on Thursday and Friday evenings, I'll be less likely to skip. I'd like to make a list of meals that require very little advance work on my part, including defrosting meat, to use on Thursday and Friday nights in particular. I'm also going to pay attention for possible Tuesday dinners that can be "scaled up" to make tasty leftovers not only for lunch on campus, but also for the possibility of an easy dinner later in the week.
Fun is harder to remember not to skip. A friend visited for a long weekend, so it was easy to remember to have fun that weekend! (The "fun" included seeing an Ansel Adams exhibit and purchasing sweaters for under $2 at "Not New Branch-of-the-Military".) We should be done with the living room built-in very soon (we really are close!). Hopefully then I will be able to work in a little fun on Saturday, rather than focusing all my energy on the construction.
The headaches are about the same as ever; not as worse as at some points, but still showing up more than I'd like. I did not yet call my massage therapist. I promise to do this soon.
Numbers 6-9 are harder to work on and harder to quantify. I had some days in January when I was fraught with worry and/or upset about stuff that is out of my control. I'm going to continue to work on keeping those responses in check, but it isn't easy and it isn't a switch to flip. I don't really have much else to say about these this month.
Number 10 has to come with time. I'm not sure if any progress has been made on this front. All of you know the reasons that I cannot and will not weigh myself. I don't even let the nurses tell me that "number" at yearly physicals. I'll know when I'm getting somewhere on this one; increasing the number of fitness classes I do each week will help, but a few weeks just isn't enough time to notice progress without radical obsessive tracking. I'm just not willing to do that; it would be so counterproductive.
Happy to report that I didn't find any reason to eat peas at all this month. Even when I made them for ChemGuy as a dinner accompaniment. Go, ChemGal!!
It's not too late to join the 2011 Challenge! Just leave your url in the comments./