Happy New Year (11 days late)

Hello!

Happy New Year! Our holiday was absolutely perfect. I really could not have asked for a better time with my friends and family. December was a stressful month for me at work because I was trying to get as much as I possibly could done before the break. I did accomplish a lot and on my last day of work I had finished most things on my to-do list which was a really nice way to start my holiday. On the last night of work we had our staff holiday party. We decided to do an organized fancy pot luck and it worked out really well. The food was amazingggg and just like the entire holiday season I ate too much food! It was all SO good though and really hard to pick just one thing - even though my intentions were good ;). The next day I started off my break with a 90 minute relaxation message and it was amazing it was so nice and relaxing and the perfect way to start a two week break (after a night of laughter and great food of course). So after that I had two weeks of holidays and my main goal for the holiday was to relax. I had not taken a break really (other than a few days here and there) since I had returned to work from mat leave in March. And let me tell you, being full time mom, full time work, doing the house stuff, running errands, getting in my workouts etc. is exhausting (even though I have a supper hubby who helps me SO much). So I spent a lot of the holidays just relaxing. The first few days I still sent Rylee to daycare full time so I could finish up Christmas stuff, get my gym time in, run some errands, and just plain relax. I am guilty of sleeping in a bit a few days (usually until 8) and taking some mid afternoon naps a few times. It was wonderful.

Sean’s work schedule was really nice too – because of the way that the holidays were it allowed us to spend a lot of family time and since Rylee was home with us all day I got to see her a lot too. It was just all around perfect. Christmas eve we had a nice dinner at home and then went to our church service. Christmas day we had time with just Sean, Rylee, and I, and then my family came over for the afternoon to open gifts and have a traditional big turkey dinner. On Boxing Day we went to see Sean’s grandmother in the morning and then we went to Kitchener to spend the day with Sean’s family. We had a really lovely time. The rest of the holidays were filled with more relaxing and doing a few things here and there but I definitely went back to work feeling very refreshed which was my main goal of the holiday so it was a complete success.

In the New Year I switched up my work out to be more challenging. I am also recording my session on paper now so that I can go back and see what progress I have made and try to do something better (more reps, more sets, higher weights etc.) over the course of the program. So far it has been really good and I am quite enjoying it! Some of the activities are quite hard which is a nice challenge and some of them are easier to create a nice balance. I have also returned to taking the stairs up at work. I aim to do it at least twice a day and they are 8 flights each time. Sometimes I get a few more sets it, depends on the day and how busy/tired I am.

Our next exciting thing is in less than a month now – we are going to Florida and the Bahamas! I am really looking forward to getting away in the middle of a cold month to somewhere that is much warmer than where I live! Rylee and I are gone for a total of two weeks. We are doing a week and a half in Florida and then ½ a week in Bahamas. Sean will be there for our first week in Florida. I am really looking forward to spending time with family, swimming, relaxing, and of course shopping!

Your body

We only get one body. Some people may be able to get transplants for body parts that aren’t working, however, in terms of our whole body, we only get one. That leads me to my question, what are you doing to take care of yours?

 

Recently I have been going to physio appointments for some wrist pain. It is nothing serious but I wanted to get ahead of it before it got worse. A few years ago I also had back pain from having such bad posture, especially when I was sitting. I have since improved my posture greatly, at least while I am at my desk anyways. I do try to be conscious of it other times as well. Where I am going with all of this is that there are many little things to remember. Sometimes too many things to remember and know that it can be over whelming and make us give up on our goals very quickly.

 

When I am doing my exercises hourly for my wrists I have to have complete focus on that and make sure that I am using proper form and keeping everything else aligned while doing it. This can be really tricky, especially when you feel like you are starting from the beginning of your journey to better health. What I recommend is to make small changes at a time. Pick one to three small things that you can change at a time and work on those. Once you have gotten those down then you can add a few more things.

 

Although our bodies are tough, they do rely on us to take care of them. I cannot tell you how many times I see people at the gym completing an exercise with awful form or just doing it completely wrong. I can’t stress enough how important it is to complete the exercises properly. If you can’t afford a personal trainer, perhaps you can find a friend who knows what they are doing to show you. Chances are if someone has worked with a personal trainer before they know about proper form and would be willing to show you. I have had to stop myself from saying something to people SO many times. Not only are they using horrible form that will get them hurt, the way they are doing the exercise is completely useless and doing nothing for them. I am really really surprised when trainers at gyms DON’T go up to people and correct them. That is their job! If I was a personal trainer in a gym, I would make sure that people weren’t doing things incorrectly.

 

Step one:

Know what your final goal is, or the big picture. Maybe it’s to lose weight, or quit smoking. Maybe you want to be able to run a 5K race, or maybe it’s something along the lines of being pain free (or at least significantly less pain). Sometimes we want to be able to do ALL of those things and we expect it to happen right away, then when it doesn’t we give up.

 

Step two:

Break down your final goal into much smaller increments. If your goal is to lose weight, focus on 5 pounds at a time. If it is to quit smoking count how many cigarettes a day you are having for a week and then aim to have one less a day every day for a week, then the next week take away one more (I have never smoked so I don’t know if this would help, this is just my way of showing you how to break it down). If your goal is to be pain free in a certain area then make small changes to allow that area to heal. Remember – these things take time but they will be worth it. When I speak about pain I am referring to pain that you can control, like for example my wrists. I am doing something that is causing them to be painful, so I need to correct the action.

 

Step three:

Find support. Find someone, or lots of someone’s who can help you reach your goals. These people will be very important when you struggle, which trust me, you will struggle.

 

Step four:

Reward yourself along the way. It doesn’t have to be a big reward but something that means something to you. If you are trying to lose weight I strongly suggest that you do not use food to reward yourself. Instead find something that you actually want and enjoy it guilt free when you hit your goal!  

 

October and November were really stressful months for me. I was really busy, I was sick with a lung infection, and a number of other things happened on top of a major bathroom renovation. During that time I still made sure I got to the gym, however, my eating was not the best. The past two weeks have been much better (aside from my hand slipping into my Christmas baking a few too many times) and I have been on a better track with my eating and have really been enjoying my gym workouts. I switched it so that now I go to the gym in the morning all the time instead of switching between morning and after work. There is just something about getting it accomplished in the morning that starts the day off the right way.

 

Now that December is here, it is usually a very busy time for families as there is a lot of extra items to do. I am really going to try to focus on slowing down and actually enjoying doing the items instead of just rushing through them and crossing them off my list. I am also trying to be very conscious of washing my hands and trying hard not to touch my mouth and eyes to minimize my chances of getting sick (or at least reducing theillness if I do get sick). It is also important that you get enough rest, so for me, since I am up so early, this means going to bed at an early hour. I might not get everything on my to do list done so I will keep my to do lists shorter and then feel great when I accomplish them. Even if it is only a few items each night!

 

What are you going to do to care for yourself this holiday season??