Year of the Dog

I've been on the team now in some sort of capacity for about 5 years.  The past few years have been an emotional whirlwind.  Health issues, job loss, moving, starting school.  It's been extremely stressful and extremely rewarding all at the same time.  The job losses impacted us tremendously as I had to learn how to live off of not even half of what I was previously making.  We learned a lot about needs vs wants and I've learned the importance of experiences vs stuff.  As stressful as things were and still are, I've learned a lot about myself and about who I am as a person. 

I started back in kung fu yesterday after only being at a couple regular classes over the past few years.  I tend to set my expectations to high and get even more awkward and anxious when I can't meet where I feel I should be.  So I am going to be attending the beginners class for awhile and work on remembering the basics and forms before I go back to my regular class so I don't get overly anxious and give myself a chance to catch up a bit.  I look forward to being back at the kwoon on a more regular basis and Josh will be joining me too.  I'm pretty excited about that since the last time he was in classes, he was a blue belt and I was a white belt.  It will be nice for us to be able to practice together now that I know a bit more than I did.   As much as I am nervous and self conscious about starting over, I am equally as excited for a new start.  I look forward to the year of the dog.

See you at the kwoon!

Persistence App

I used this app before and it is great.  You can select headers and then put different goals under each header so it is easy to organize.  You are able to select your start date and enter your goal and it will show the percentage of where you are at to meet this goal.  This is super helpful and convenient as it's on your phone and entering your numbers is easy on the go.  The only thing I was having to write was my acts of kindness and that was it.  It's called Persistence and it is available in the Apple App Store.  I don't know if you can get it on Android, but if not, I'm sure they'll have something similar if you search habit trackers.

Water

I've never consumed enough water. Ever. Even if I carried a water bottle around with me. This is not a good thing since about 60-70% of our body is made up of the stuff. One of my goals is to start drinking to correct amount. You are supposed to take your body weight in pounds, divide it by 2, and that's the minimum amount of ounces you should drink. Then you increase that based on your activity levels up to an ounce per pound. For me, I am 116 lbs. So I should be drinking a minimum of 58-116 ounces. The past 3 days I've managed to drink just under 2 litres a day with a water bottle I bought that keeps me on track. It's a 32 ounce bottle and it shows me by time of day where I should be in the number of ounces I drink. Super helpful and I'm actually submitting to what the bottle tells me. I'm hoping to be able to keep it up. I also learned it's possible to die from drink too much water. You can actually drown your organs. Who knew?
So far I'm noticing that my skin isn't as dry (obviously), I have a little bit more energy and I pee an awful lot (TMI). We'll see how this goes.

Years In Review

I've been trying to call into the meetings, but it's really hard to hear. By reading the blogs and the sheer volume of them yesterday, I can see I missed a pact to blog. I'm going to try to adjust my work schedule so I'm able to be a part of at least some of the meetings.

The past 2 years have been amazing for me in regards to personal growth. We moved to an area of the south side that we love. We're right behind a ravine and really close to a lot of trails and I love the way it smells here. I find it so calm and relaxing. Josh and I got engaged. It'll be awhile before we can actually have a wedding, but we're slowly planning things out so we know what we want. I finished my course and graduate in June. I'm pretty proud of that actually, because I never had the courage to attend a university. I now am determined to keep growing academically. I also had the opportunity to take the most amazing trip. Josh and I spent Christmas and New Years in Maui and I cannot begin to describe how absolutely awesome this trip was and how relaxed I felt. I didn't even know it was possible for me to be so relaxed. I went whale watching, surfing (with a dog on my board), snorkeling, to a luau, through road to Hana, and so many other things I never thought possible. The trip was a gift, one I genuinely wanted to refuse, but I swallowed my pride an accepted and am so beyond grateful. The generosity of people helping Josh and I while we went through layoffs and trying to get through school has been astounding and I am forever grateful and will pay it forward as soon as we can.

Where I'm struggling now is physically. I spent way to much time not feeling well, then when I felt better I was then working an office job and doing a lot of sitting for school. I was doing a running program 2-3 days a week, but stopped when it started to get colder outside and have done nothing ever since. I've been so lazy physically. It's pretty embarrassing. I tried running forms through my head so that I could at least remember something when I showed up to a class, but the forms are sketchy at best. I'm very much an all or nothing person, so I struggle with balance. I'm either all in or all out. This is going to be my focus for the year of the dog. Balance. I can't do everything but I can at least do something. My goal is to be healthy in body and mind and if I just get over the initial hurdle of embarrassment, anxiousness and awkwardness, I think it can be achieved.

See you at the kwoon.