Step Away From the Cake

  It's hard to believe that today is Christmas. This year has gone by so damn fast. Days are slow, years are fast. This saying is so, so true.  Spent most of the day yesterday just laying around trying to shake this thing. Slept pretty well last night too. This morning I have a tickle in my throat but it's way, way down in my throat. So deep that coughing almost doesn't help it at all. Weird.  But overall I am feeling better so I think I can do a little more today than I did yesterday. Nothing crazy, just getting some work done, maybe do some reading, things like that.  I just don't have much more to say. Don't feel like doing this so I'm going to cut it short. 

 but something was off. I didn't know exactly what it was but something was a little off. Around 4pm I had to take Lola and Bella to the vet and that's when it started to hit me. A head cold. As I sat in the vet's office I could feel my sinuses filling up. By the time I got home I had a full blown head cold. Ugh!!! Took some Theraflu last night and slept pretty good, but woke this morning with a sore throat and a stuffy head. Boo!!! We were supposed to go to a friend's house tonight but looks like that is not going to happen. However, it is raining and that is awesome. I could sit home in the rain all day reading by the fireplace. Yes!!!!  I am just not up to writing this morning. I'm feeling a little crappy and just want to not think. 

 I blog in the mornings right after I meditate. It's a great way to kind of set my intentions for the day. Yesterday, after blogging, I went and did some reading. That was nice. I haven't done that in a long, long time. I used to have the habit of reading every morning before work and when I came home from work. But life got in the way and I lost those habits. During school I won't be able to read in the mornings, but I'm going to take advantage of it when I can. After blogging yesterday, I took a couple of minutes and wrote out "Who do I want to be today?"  in my planner and I really think that was powerful. More powerful than I realized at the time. I ended up getting a lot more accomplished yesterday than I have in a couple of days and it felt good. Now I wasn't perfect. I had time on the couch coloring and I almost fell asleep in my chair reading, but overall it was a really good, productive day.  In the book Atomic Habits, he's talking about habit...

 I am all about improvement for the coming new year. I want to be the best version of myself that I can be. Part of it stems from this knee injury I've been suffering through. It has highlighted a number of things I'm not completely happy with and I think it's time to change it up. Believe it or not, the dog trainer that I follow recommended this book, along with a couple of others. So I've got a bit of reading to do this break. Good, I'm glad.  I've only gotten through the first chapter but it already resonates with me. He says that habits are what make us great and that 1% improvements add up over time. Also, much of this is in our mindset and how we talk to ourselves. No sh*t Sherlock!!! He used people trying to quit smoking as an example, one says 'I'm trying to quit' while the other says 'I don't smoke.' Both of the are in the quitting process but seeing that you know who will be successful and who won't. Sticking with the smokin...

 I imagine this will take a few days to refine my goals down to workable things that I can live with. So here goes.  Health This is obviously a biggee with me. Weight is something I've had an issue with my entire life and now that I'm getting older not just weight, but overall health is becoming more and more important. In yesterdays post, I listed a number of 'goals' that I had regarding health. As that information percolated through my brain during the day, I realized that I did that incorrectly. I listed like 4 'goals' I have when in reality I only have one real goal. That is to be able to do what I want, when I want without asking my bodies permission. That is my real true goal. The lens I want to see myself through is that of an active person who does lots of things. That's been my lens for a large part of my life, but these last few years I've let it slip. I want to be that lady that you see hiking all winter long. I want to be the lady that people...

 I have always been a goal driven person. I do fairly well with the goals I set as long as I have them and keep them in mind. The last few years I haven't really had any goals and it shows in my the things I do and don't do. It's showing on my body, I'm probably the heaviest I've been in years. I'm also the slowest and the stiffest. I don't want to be like that. I also tend to flounder around in general if I don't have goals. I just need to feel like I'm working towards something otherwise I'm just existing and that's not fun.  One of the groups I belong to has a decent focus on goals but they are far too nebulous for me. One of the goals is to live mindfully. That's great and I want that too, but what does that mean in every day life? I work better when I have a little more definition and a destination to work towards.  Another group I belong to did a whole thing on goals. It's a dog training group, but they talked about all kinds of...

 While the pain in my knee has definitely lessened, I can now walk without screaming, it is still a pain in my butt. Of course, I started on the journey to fix it 3 days ago, so I guess I need to be a little more patient. I can walk without limping if I go slow and pay attention to what I'm doing. I haven't had to think about walking in years, it's weird. I did buy an elastic brace that completely sucks and falls down all the time, but I think it might be helping some. So the knee issue continues. I did walk Mavy yesterday for the first time all week. We walked around the block and it was slow but he really enjoyed it. I'm walking him again today. I honestly thing that movement helps more than rest.  There's really not much else. Yesterday was quiet, I never left the house, and I got a lot of school work done. Today I'm not doing any 'work'. I need to get some housework done and then some friends will be over to watch football. So I am taking the day off...