What a wild ride this comeback year is already! My morning routines are working well for me. The podcasts I listen to while on the treadmill have covered motivation, goal setting, meditation, micro dosing, cutting back on alcohol and even travel. Since I started, I have built 2 wood puzzles and started another, lost 4 1/2 pounds, put things up for sale that we don't use, landed one project PT job, have feelers for another, sold one of our timeshares, made homemade bread and cookies and experimented with different recipes...both plant based and regular.
I have hit my 10k steps on most days and stretch every day. Spending another 30 minutes on some other work out hasn't fit in as well. I'm yet to unfit to do some of the things I want to do, but get bored with some of the wall/chair exercises. Mostly I'll do random squats or leg lifts while in the kitchen. I have to laugh at days when I feel short of my steps because I'll willingly chase our granddaughter around the kitchen or run in place while gaming with my husband and son. I'm sure it is an odd site.
Every time in my life when I have been focused on self-care, the underlying "purpose" was to lose weight. That made me a slave to the scale and always felt I failed if not dropping enough or fast enough. This time though I am more focused on how I feel. So much more energy, sleeping better and feeling the muscles tone are continuous rewards for what I'm putting into this. I can move easier, bend with less pain and happily do not feel like a slug.
I made the final decision on my Birthday bash in Dominican Republic. It is a place we have been to before and just love the people and the location. So far 25 amazing humans are joining us there and I'm so excited. One of my best friends 60th is happening this year too so I'm sure there will be another beautiful time together. We are hosting another friends birthday here at our house in March. They are our Sturgis family and we always enjoy our time together.
I did get a part-time project management gig with a great lady who owns her own amazing PR/Marketing company. I really enjoy the team, they are hard-working but super fun people. I am also researching doing another (different) type of work but more on that if/when it comes to fruition. It would be something I LOVE doing so I'm excited to see how this pans out.
I'm eager to start on few books I have heard about in my podcasts. The first one I plan to read is "The 5am Club" by Robin Sharma. I like listening to him. He is very pragmatic, humble and spends his life helping others live their best lives. He talks about 5am being a magical time and being an early riser, this makes sense to me. The basic formula is 20/20/20 for your 1st hour. 20 minutes on vigorous exercise, 20 minutes on reflection by meditating and journaling, and 20 minutes on growth by reading and learning. Now I don't start with vigorous exercise...I start with the reflection/journaling and recently the "learning" part has been more on the PT position I have BUT I have researched things like plant based foods and other healthy things you can help my overall wellness. Once I read the book I'm sure I'll learn more about the science behind the routine.
I did notice that many podcasts seemed to be aimed at a younger crowd. Don't ever feel like you're "too old" to start making self-care a priority. Like I said, this is about setting life up to be enjoyable for another wonderful chapter. I've had great years and awful years (we all have), so wherever you are in your own life, know that you can always start to take steps to make things better for YOU. You deserve it!