Thursday morning pep talk

 

In the news this Thursday morning

I'm noticing the news of an all non-astronaut crew in orbit, and thinking back to the 1960's.  First we had the pre-orbital flights, back then.  And followed up with orbital flights.  It was with test pilots turned astronauts aboard.  It was dangerous and we knew it, and they knew it.  Great effort went into making it safer.

Now a similar path seems to be unfolding... we had the pre-orbital billionaires, now we have an orbital one.  This time it's a fund-raiser for St. Jude's Children's hospital, and one of the cancer surviving young people is aboard.  This seems like a completely different vibe, even while the progression is familiar.

Amid all the disturbing news (and there is a lot of that, too), there is this uplift of reaching to the heavens.

Uplifting the spirit in physical space

I stepped out on the deck this morning, watching the sky in the coolness.  A little cloudier than yesterday morning, so no photos of the pre-dawn sky.  The breeze was blowing the prairie grass over the top of the deck rail.  The cats decided to come back out after downing their breakfast, and I came back inside.

The peace of just getting outside and feeling oneself in the world, breathing in and out, and just letting the calm wash over me.  Thank you, God, for the gift of this day!

I often say "Don't get cocky"

It's one of my major themes.  When I am having a seeming time of success, I have to be careful of self-sabotage.  Just because the scale has been kind of late, that doesn't mean it will automatically continue in this vein.  It requires hanging on to new/old behaviors.

Part of the reason why the scale is acting that way has to do with my own behavior in the kitchen.  I have been winning the battles at the grocery store.  I did stop buying ice cream.  I did stop buying candy.  And I started putting more energy into the things that have always worked:  preparing fresh food, and tracking what I eat. 

What does cocky look like?  It looks like "I got to my goal range, I don't need to avoid junk any more."  It looks like, "Oh, I know what I'm eating is healthy, I don't need to track it any more."  But not tracking can lead to also not reading my body's signals that it's had enough.

Part of the reason is my return to strength training on a consistent basis.  During the pandemic I started out well, but only did strength training rarely.  Maybe once  or twice a month.  My walks started getting shorter.  But after getting fully vaccinated, I returned to the trainer, twice a week.  And the walks started getting longer.

As the scale dropped, I waited for the "magic number" of 150 before I would let myself start jogging intervals.  The first time I jogged intervals was some time in July.  The first time I was cheeky enough to call my interval workout a "run" to the tracking application was August 1st.  The first time I ran intervals to the watch, as opposed to counting jogging steps was yesterday.

So, yes, I'm sitting at a good spot, in terms of what the scale says, how the clothes fit, how I feel, and what I'm able to do, in terms of fitness.  A great time for that "don't get cocky" reminder.

A theme-mate to that "Don't get cocky" is "You are worthy"

The biggest obstacle to continued success in maintaining a healthy lifestyle is mental.  I'm being flat out honest here.  It's the sabotaging feeling of "I'm not worth it", often disguised as caring more for others than for self.  Sounds altruistic.  If someone else is suffering, how can it be right for me to have this joy?  And there are a LOT of people suffering in the world.

One of the keys to "you are worthy" is the recognition that failing to take care of yourself is NOT helping those who are suffering.  Better approach is to take care of your health so as not to add to the burdens of others.  Better approach is to take care of your fitness so that you will be equipped to assist others.

The approach of "am I worthy to help others?" is a healthy one.  Because the answer is always YES!  We can ALL do our part.

The Pep Talk:  Let's live TODAY!

Let's all get out there and live the best we can manage, this one and only Thursday, September 16, 2021 we'll ever get.  The best we can manage where we are right now, is enough.  And enough will always get us through.  Life is good.  Spark on!  ✨🎇💖🔥