One week ago my friend, Karen and I began a new route on our journey to good health. It's called the Power of 20. As I mentioned in my last post, the idea is to strive to complete 20 healthy things each day.
Not surprisingly, I am a little late to the party. The most challenging aspect was not making the good choice, but finding a way to record these choices. I tried to use hash tags, which was a great way to hit my goal, but not very useful for recording and sharing the details of the day. The next day I expanded into categories (exercise, water, food, acts of kindness). I found a great app called Drinking Water, which sends a posts every time you are to drink an 8 ounce glass of water. And, when you complete your 64 ounces, the app actually gives you a round of applause. That was a nice little bonus.
Some of my exercise choices included taking the stairs a few times each day, and taking a walk outside at work and after work with the dog. I have not been as diligent with my videos and the elliptical machine. But that changes today. My brothers, their girlfriends and Mark and I signed up for a relay marathon later this month. Each person has to run about 4.3 miles. Embarrassingly, I sent text to everyone hoping to bag out of it. But, they are all still in. I looked at the kids' schedules hoping for conflicts with their games. Nope! The day is free. And, my parents have already offered to keep the kids overnight the day before. No kids, no sports, no excuses. Time to lace the sneakers up and sync my new songs to the ipod and hit the pavement. Sigh! I have not lost or gained anything in 2 weeks. But really need to kick the exercise in gear. Hopefully that will keep things moving in the right direction.
My new favorite food has been these prepared salads with cabbage, kale, and lettuce. I add some lean protein and enjoy it. One bag covers two meals. I'm almost done with the protein shakes I purchased a few months back. Now there is space in the cupboards. I also have to invest the time tonight to prepare the food for the upcoming week. Spring sports begin this week, so our schedule becomes a little more challenging. This is more of a reason to get out of bed when my alarm goes off in the morning.
I also want to renew my habit of sending out cards/notes during the week. This was particularly helpful this past week when I had a very bad day at work. The nuances of my job prevent me from disclosing any details, but it was bad on so many levels. So, to balance the bad, I did three things. First, I circled back with every person I interacted with in a manner that was stressful, and cleared the air. Second, I went out of my way to praise others and give thanks (to their supervisors) for their hard work. Third, I opened the dialogue with my supervisors and sought their thought process for handling similar issues. It will be helpful the next time these events happen.
So we press onward towards harnessing the power of 20.
I spent more time with the kids this week tuning in to what they were interested in doing. I paid it forward at work, and spent some quality time with Mark.
