Out, darn clutter...

I admit that I’m fascinated with the concept of decluttering.  I like the idea of having the right amount of stuff, not so much that it overwhelms me and fills all available space, but not so little that the world is cold and boring.  I often even enjoy the process of decluttering—out with the ugly sweaters, the dissatisfying books, and the lidless containers!  Except.

There are things that are harder to let go of.  And many of them are both unwieldy and invisible.  Here are some I want to pitch; maybe you’ll join me:

• Comfort eating.  I do not need to clutter up my body with a cookie just because it was a Bad Day.

• Cooties.  Sometimes objects are so reminiscent of a time or relationship that has gone (or gone wrong) that even though the objects are perfectly usable, they loom and fester and bring us down.  Yes, I get space from ditching the things, but I get more space from ditching all the weight of memory.

• Mean thoughts.  I do not need to get up in the morning, look in the mirror, and say, “Gee, I look horrible/fat/tired/ugly/weird/old.”  It does not help me feel motivated.  It weighs me down.  I’m not suggesting that I lie to myself and say, “Hello, there, Miss America!” to my reflection, but rather that I treat myself like I would treat a friend.

• Comparisons.  As many writers have remarked, comparisons are odious.  There will always be someone smarter, stronger, cuter, and more talented than I am.  There will also always be someone less fortunate than I am.  Wasting time measuring is silly.  I need to get on with the actual work.

Got more ideas?  Tell me!

Celebrate!

Today is my mom’s 75^th birthday.  I have a milestone birthday, myself, coming up this year.  Age may be just a number, but it isn’t bad to stop and check in when that number ticks over.

Are we where we want to be?  Can we do the things we want to do?  What is easier than we expect?  What is harder?

And then:  what are we going to do about it all?  Let’s make it a positive challenge to make our milestones into celebrations.

Pay attention with kindness

When we get back to exercising after a hiatus, we can be tempted to try to do everything at once, just as hard and heavy as we did before we stopped for vacation, celebration, injury, or other life events.  This is not a good idea.  In fact, it is a good way to end up discouraged and/or hurt.

It is just as problematic to go too easy on ourselves.  If the goal we set is too easy, it is too easy to blow off.

The answer, of course, lies in paying attention, with kindness.  Yes, we have to work out.  Yes, that means cardio and weights.  See how it goes.  Maybe we are ready to do two thirds of our cardio and we drop the weights a bit for the first week or so.  We have to work out with today’s body and we might as well love today’s body because we’re stuck in it.  Treat it nicely and appreciate all the things it does.

Up from here.

Monday Workout: Planes, planks, and sides

This week we have both suitcase swings and woodchoppers, a similar motion in two different planes to work on stability with different muscle groups while getting the heart rate up.  In the same kind of way, flies and rows work the front and back of the body.  The deadlifts or squats get the lower body more involved; choose the squats if your knees allow it and the deadlifts if they don’t.  For the plank and side planks, alternate rounds, odd rounds plank, even rounds side plank.  Four rounds total.

1 min cardio
ball flies	20
suitcase swings	20
deadlift or squat	20
bent over row	20
woodchoppers	20
plank/side plank