Yesterday was a blur of moving, boxes and stuff and bodies and cars and All. That. Jazz. I didn’t write and beat myself up about that, but I shushed the shrew voice and am moving on.
A few days ago I downloaded an app that counts your steps, lets you log your food and water intake, and so forth. I’ve been reading Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath and implementing some of the healthy tips. With all the moving yesterday, I figured I would destroy that step goal. Here’s the thing about that though: Your phone must be in your possession for it to work. So it was mostly, “Oh shoot, where’s my phone? LILY, I need my phone. DAMMITTTT, I left my phone in the car. Ugghhhhhhh…Whatever.”
The book encourages consistent healthy choices rather than some big life change. With each opportunity to choose healthy or unhealthy, you choose healthy. So after the moving we went to dinner, and I chose stir fry and didn’t eat any of the rice or bread. And there were peppers in oil. I put them on my salad. But, they still had Christmas Ale on tap. I mean draft Christmas Ale in mid-January is an obvious gift from the universe. So, it seemed rude and ungrateful to thumb my nose at it. I did, however, say no to the cinnamon and brown sugar rimmed glass. I didn’t dislocate my shoulder patting myself on the back.
1. It’s really easy to wake early and count blessings on the weekend because I’m surrounded by love. And my husband brings me coffee in bed, which means I have about 5 full minutes between waking up and his arrival to express my gratitude.
2. Yesterday morning as we enjoyed an uncharacteristically warm sunny drive, I gazed dreamily through the sun roof and was amazed to see a bald eagle soaring over the car (Brad was driving, you guys.) I’m intrigued by animal totems and am often visited by hawks–and once a rogue owl–so I immediately started researching what message a bald eagle brings:
When an eagle appears, you are on notice to be courageous and stretch your limits. Do not accept the status quo, but rather reach higher and become more than you believe you are capable of. Look at things from a new, higher perspective. Be patient with the present; know that the future holds possibilities that you may not yet be able to see. You are about to take flight.
Whether you believe or think it’s all just a bunch of hocus pocus, that’s way cool.
3. I’m getting behind on my thank you’s again. I’ll mail them tomorrow. Wait…Tuesday.
So yesterday and today were pretty good eating days. I realize now that one of the most important elements for me is: Be Prepared. Pack healthy snacks. Make food ahead of time so I don’t make an unhealthy choice in a moment of hunger-induced weakness. And the biggest key is never to let myself get too hungry. I’m mean and angry and much more likely to eat more and make bad choices. I was literally eating carrot sticks on the way to dinner yesterday because I was starving and didn’t want to make a bad choice because my stomach was overruling my brain.
How are you guys doing? What are your thoughts on spirit animals? Have you read any good books lately? I’ve got a stack of non-fiction to get through, and then I’m going to reward myself with something fun. My girlfriend and I had a fake book club for five minutes during which we read Gone Girl, which was so great. Anyway, she sent me this awesome list of books to read if you loved Gone Girl, so I think I’ll try one of those. I’m always looking for recommendations 🙂
xoxo
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