Healthy Goal 5: Exercising for Fun, not Perfection! And an update on goal 4.
amy April 8th, 2007
My goal last week was to get out of the fashion funk I’ve been in and take more interest in my appearance so that I not only look better but feel better. At the end of the week I can definitely say I’ve made major improvements. I’ve started wearing more interesting clothes, jewelry, and the occasional lip gloss; I got my eyebrows waxed and my hair cut (and I’ve even starting using mousse and some texture paste!); and I have a consultation appointment with a plastic surgeon at noon tomorrow to see about getting a couple of moles removed. I feel like my self esteem has taken a big step in the right direction and I am actually proud of the way I look for a change.
This week I’m going to focus on exercise. This might seem like it doesn’t necessarily fit my theme this month of Living for Today, but it does. I’ve been wanting to exercise for a long time because it makes me feel good and also gives me motivation to eat healthier, however I’ve been putting it off because it never seemed convenient. I’m going to exercise this week AND have fun doing it so that it is not a chore.
I went and bought a second dance pad for DDR yesterday, and Jason and I are going to start playing in the evenings after James goes to bed (him on easy since he hasn’t played it much, and me on basic with maybe the occasional attempt at difficult). We had some friends over tonight for dinner and to watch the first episode of the new season of the Sopranos (yea, finally!), and we ended up playing DDR afterwards. I probably played for a good half hour and got a pretty decent workout, but it was so much fun that I didn’t really notice the time flying by. It’s a lot more fun to play with someone else.
I’m also going to try to go for a couple of walks during lunch next week. By incorporating activity into my life now and making it something that is fun, I’ll be living for today instead of waiting for some ideal future when I’ll go to the gym 4 times a week and have a perfect schedule of cardio and weights. Maybe perfectionism is one of my problems; I hold myself to a perfect standard (eating and exercising), and when I can’t fulfill that I adopt an all or nothing attitude and do nothing. Well, I’m not perfect, and I’m tired of doing nothing, so going forward I’ll try to do something when I can. Hopefully all of those somethings will start to add up eventually.
I SO hear you on taking pride in our appearance. I stopped a long time ago, and now, throwing my hair in a ponytail all the time has become such a BAD habit. What a difference a little make-up and a hairbrush can make! We are worth it!:-)
And as for perfectionism - my biggest downfall too. I’m starting to get a bit better with it, because I’ve realized that the “all or nothing” attitude seems to be turning into a lot more of “nothing” rather than “all” - and that’s just not getting me anywhere!
Great post.