New Things Are New
I don't write here much anymore. I have two other blogs I use much more, one of which is a personal blog, the other is for my life as a father, and one or two more than that that I use infrequently as well. I've drifted away from LiveJournal, as have so many others.
Still, for some reason this feels like it belongs here.
I'm improving myself. For the first time in a long time I've put things on my to do lists and actually followed through with them for more than just a few days.
I'm getting stronger. Slowly. I'm learning more ASL. Slowly. I'm learning how to play guitar and keyboard. Slowly. Ever so slowly.
And I think that's the key; moving slowly.
The exercises I'm doing are ridiculously low end. I laugh at myself forgetting tired doing them but I do get tired and I do them anyway. I'm doing wall-push-ups, door frame vertical pull-ups, simple leg raises, crunches, chair-seated knee raises. No weights except what my body brings into it and nothing that I can only do one or two of; I do 50 wall-push-ups, 60 of the vertical pull-ups, etc.
And it's working. It shouldn't be; the exercises are such that even the lowliest of wimps would laugh at me, but it is working. I can see definition where there never has been any. I can feel the exercises getting slightly easier as I near the next goal so that I can move to the next step (counter-top push-ups at an angle, for example) and it's amazing.
I'm doing the same thing with keyboard, learning the simplest of chords right now before I jump any further into it.
Guitar I've taken a different approach and I play Rocksmith for an hour or two every day but that's gamifying it which also works for me, just in a different way. Still, even there I'm moving slowly and putting it down the moment I get frustrated, then I'll come back to it later when it's fun again.
My old approach, "go big or go home?" That didn't ever work for me even a little bit. I'd give up quickly or just plain fail.
Now, it's slow and steady.
Let's see if I finish this race, let alone win it.
Still, for some reason this feels like it belongs here.
I'm improving myself. For the first time in a long time I've put things on my to do lists and actually followed through with them for more than just a few days.
I'm getting stronger. Slowly. I'm learning more ASL. Slowly. I'm learning how to play guitar and keyboard. Slowly. Ever so slowly.
And I think that's the key; moving slowly.
The exercises I'm doing are ridiculously low end. I laugh at myself forgetting tired doing them but I do get tired and I do them anyway. I'm doing wall-push-ups, door frame vertical pull-ups, simple leg raises, crunches, chair-seated knee raises. No weights except what my body brings into it and nothing that I can only do one or two of; I do 50 wall-push-ups, 60 of the vertical pull-ups, etc.
And it's working. It shouldn't be; the exercises are such that even the lowliest of wimps would laugh at me, but it is working. I can see definition where there never has been any. I can feel the exercises getting slightly easier as I near the next goal so that I can move to the next step (counter-top push-ups at an angle, for example) and it's amazing.
I'm doing the same thing with keyboard, learning the simplest of chords right now before I jump any further into it.
Guitar I've taken a different approach and I play Rocksmith for an hour or two every day but that's gamifying it which also works for me, just in a different way. Still, even there I'm moving slowly and putting it down the moment I get frustrated, then I'll come back to it later when it's fun again.
My old approach, "go big or go home?" That didn't ever work for me even a little bit. I'd give up quickly or just plain fail.
Now, it's slow and steady.
Let's see if I finish this race, let alone win it.