fitness

Good Start

I went to the gym this morning!! I am extremely proud of myself as I have never gone before work and I was having some anxiety about it; luckily everything worked out (LOL, get it? šŸ˜‚) and here I am in the parking lot of my job with a little extra time to type this out!

I have been wanting to start going to the gym in the mornings all week; I was going to start on Monday, but then I used the random snowfall that happened as an excuse not to go. By Tuesday I gave up because I was already having anxiety and losing sleep thinking that I wouldnā€™t wake up in time to go or Iā€™d be late to work.

I was having my anxious dreams like I used to have where Iā€™m running late for work, or I go to the wrong office and canā€™t get a hold of anyone. As a kid Iā€™d often dream that I missed the bus or I was late to class- Iā€™ve always had anxiety about time and being late, but Iā€™m not sure where it stems from. But today I overcame a fear and I feel so much better about it!

I am going to start going to the gym four days a week in the mornings before work, and I feel that this will make me feel a lot better as Iā€™ll start my days early doing something for myself! Iā€™m excited to see where this journey takes me!

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Back and Better!

Weā€™re so happy to be home after our short little getaway! My boyfriend and I had 3-night-stay in Myrtle Beach over the past weekend, and it was quite a relaxing time! I was happy to have a balcony with an ocean view; being able to listen to the waves whenever I wanted was a wonderful pastime.

Honestly, at one point while just sitting in solitude on the deck, I began to tear up; I always feel so at peace when Iā€™m near the water. It is a goal of mine to one day live near the ocean, or at least a large body of water in which I could paddle board or kayak. I donā€™t knowā€¦itā€™s just something about being on the water that gives me a feeling of serenity.

Although we somehow brought our cold, windy weather with us to North Carolina, we still very much enjoyed our time together. It was fun checking out local restaurants and just chilling in the hotel hot tub outside. I will say, the couples massage with the jacuzzi sea salt soak was definitely the highlight of the trip! The Swedish massage was much needed, but wow did it hurt at certain points!

It was nice to get away for the weekend to celebrate my boyfriendā€™s 27th birthday together and just disconnect for a while. This trip made me want to travel more, but honestly even just finding small towns and places in my state within a few hours driving distance sounds fun and within budget! Of course now itā€™s getting colder out and winter is right around the corner, but I can start my research on areas to check out! Not to mention, find some local holiday events!

We got back home yesterday, and today was overall a productive day. I grocery shopped, donated some clothes to Goodwill, and got some services done for my car! Iā€™m also excited to continue the gym routine and set some fitness goals! Well, it is back to work for me tomorrow morning; I hope everyone is having a great week so far and has a great week ahead!

Labor Day

I cannot believe itā€™s already Labor Dayā€¦ I feel like we already lost out on a whole year (2020) but now Iā€™m like how is it about to be 2022??? In my timeline of life, ideally I would want to be getting pregnant this time next year with my first baby and already be married, but my boyfriend is still not my fiancĆ© yet so we will see how thatā€™s goes LOL.

Honestly I am happy with how life is going, and I want to keep this timeline in mind as motivation to keep me working out and eating healthier. I want to be much more healthy and fit by the time that I get pregnant/have children so that I can teach them how to have healthy habits as they grow up. I also know it may take a while to get pregnant, or I may find out I cannot get pregnant, in which case it will still be better to be healthy incase I have to try IVF.

I donā€™t want that to come off as negative or worried about the worst case, I truly just look at that as something normal that can happen, along with miscarriages! I think the problem is we werenā€™t really taught that in health class or in any type of schooling that 1 in 4 women have a miscarriage and a lot also struggle with infertility issues. I feel like since Iā€™m very aware of that and have friends who have gone through all of the above, that is just something Iā€™m (somewhat) mentally prepared for.

Overall there are obviously more reasons to want to get healthy and get stronger, but I am going to try to keep this in mind as the months and years keep flying by. Iā€™m the only person who can make these changes and make healthy habits for myself, and my future self and children deserve it!

Sunny Sunday!

Itā€™s such a beautiful day outside, yet Iā€™ve been inside most of the day organizing and cleaning the house. Honestly it feels great, and I still have time to go on a walk as itā€™s only 2:30pm. I also did some crafting today; I made a couple of canvases for my living room.

Iā€™ve been feeling like getting off of social media again. I got back on Facebook for my small business and I am back to scrolling a lot. Today I logged out so that when I pull up the app I can stop and decide if I am going on there for business or not and just get back off. Twitter is where I spend a lot of time and truly itā€™s kind of a hellhole, but the astrology people on there are interesting to me LOL! I like reading that stuff even if some people donā€™t think itā€™s real, I truly think it just helps with self-reflection and being aware.

I still havenā€™t made a decision about work, which I guess means I may be staying where I am? To be fair, my current job told me they had to talk to some people and I wouldnā€™t hear much until next week. Part of me still is hesitant to stay because of the drive and I donā€™t want to be wasting all of my time, but also the insurance is much more affordable at this job. Itā€™s just stressful to think about, and my boyfriendā€™s HR wonā€™t get back to him on if we need to be married or need a civil union or whatever. Iā€™m honestly not really focusing on that right now, Iā€™m trying to get the house clean and start preparing for my first crafting ā€œdrop!ā€

Iā€™ve been really proud of myself for how Iā€™ve been managing all of this stress while also no longer being on anxiety medication! Itā€™s been over 6 weeks now, and I am honestly feeling really good! I feel my emotions again, but I also feel like I am 100% gaining more control over them. Iā€™ve been focusing more on gratitude which is helping me to get through the negative situations. It is a lot of practice and itā€™s hard, but creating healthy habits is important, and I want to do this for myself.

I also am going to be more mindful about how I eat and how active I am, as I want to be healthy. I want to starting trying to have children within the next couple years, and I want to make sure that I am active and get into healthy habits so that I can continue them postpartum, and teach them to my children as well. What I choose to do today affects my future self, and I need to be mindful of that

.

Feeling blessed.

I had such a wonderful birthday weekend with great people! From drinking in a sunflower field, to finishing my tattoo, back to drinking (but on an island in the lake), it was full of adventure and laughter. If this is any indicator of how 26 will be for me, I am excited!

One shitty part of the weekend is that our AC went out on Thursday, so itā€™s been a tad warm in the house. I will say we got lucky with the timing because it has been in the mid-to-high 70s this weekend, rather than the 90 degree heat we had a couple weeks ago, so with that we are blessed. And if you remember from when the furnace went out, my boyfriendā€™s cousin owns an HVAC company so he will be coming out to take a look at it this week.

Iā€™ve been working hard redirecting my negative thoughts to remembering things that Iā€™m grateful for, and I can already tell the difference in how I am responding to situations that usually send me into an irritable anxious state. Iā€™m trying to practice this often so that it becomes a habit, because healthy habits are essential for progress and growth.

I explained to my therapist how Iā€™ve been practicing gratitude and she was very proud of me, especially being off of my medication for nearly a month now. Iā€™ve been taking the vitamin supplements she recommended which Iā€™m sure are also helping, and Iā€™ve been more active as well (but right now with the air being out I have tried not to be as I hate having to try to cool down in the hot house).

I have a good feeling about 26- I feel like I am finally going to get good control of my emotions and live a healthier lifestyle. I want to grow stronger both mentally and physically, and I want to be at peace in my mind and with everyone around me. I want to actively practice more kindness towards myself and others. And as this photo says, I want to swing my worries away; I feel I am heading in the right direction.

Hope this feeling stays

This weekend Iā€™ve been feeling very motivated. I did wedding crafts with a friend and we got so much done! We even were able to sneak in a nail appointment and she made me get back on tik tok LOL. Honestly though, learning those dances is a work out.

Speaking of which, I started adding in little workouts to my schedule these past few days. Nothing intense, but I do want to lose some weight/gain some muscle over the next few months so Iā€™m going to be watching what Iā€™m eating more and making sure Iā€™m getting active!

Today I got a lot done around the house, and my friend came by to pick up a project that my other friend and I collaborated on for her! The best part was when she sent me the money on Venmo, I realized I never transferred previous money to my account so I ended up having an extra $100 I didnā€™t know I had (which will definitely help for this upcoming tattoo appointment in a couple weeks).

Anyways, Iā€™m really trying to keep myself motivated and keep my head up! I have to start dedicating time to myself and my health, now that Iā€™m finally feeling better!

Looking inward

I read a quote that said something along the lines of the best way to get out of the chaos is to look inward. We forget how powerful our minds are as humans, and as hard as the pill may be to swallow, a lot of our obstacles and issues do boil down to ourselves and how we perceive and react to situations.

Once we accept the fact that we have more control over our minds and bodies than we think, we can begin to start the work. Mind you, weā€™re all humans. We are capable of having our minds and opinions changed, and we are also likely to make mistakes along the way, but as long as we remember our end goal we can bring ourselves back.

Iā€™m always much more motivated on the weekend, which I guess is because I have more time to do things, but also I could do more during the work week if I schedule out the time to do so. I keep saying I want to go to the gym, but I only ever do it on the weekends, as I am too tired after work and havenā€™t been able to motivate myself enough to go before work.

I have an issue with changing plans/routines and until I take the first step I am constantly delaying my own progress. I havenā€™t gone to the gym before work yet as I need to make sure I figure out timing to be able to get back home and shower before I leave for work. In reality it is not a hard task, and honestly Iā€™ve calculated the timing already, itā€™s just forcing myself to get up to that earlier alarm to do something that will benefit me.

Granted, sleep/rest is beneficial as well, but I am typically in bed by 10:00pm or 11:00pm latest so even getting up at 7:00am I get my full eight hours of sleep. I just always feel uneasy when doing something different or ā€œoff schedule,ā€ and that has been an issue of mine for as long as I can remember. I need to continue working on these issues in order for me to improve and live the fullest life I can live.

November

As we get closer and closer to the end of the year, I canā€™t help but realize all the stuff I didnā€™t do and could have been doing during the quarantine periods. Then again, I was lucky enough to be able to continue working full-time so itā€™s not like I magically had more time on my hands rather than the lack of social life.

I am not going to use this time to sulk and think about what I could have done, instead I want to focus on what I can do now and what I want to work on. As I had said in my last post I am thinking about investing in a cricut and dedicating time to crafts and projects. Ideally I would like to be able to eventually profit off of the products I make, but at the same time I am just looking forward to being able to make friends and family personalized gifts.

I donā€™t want to get too overwhelmed with everything so I am trying to plan out what I can and Iā€™ve been writing notes with ideas of what I want to do; if I can keep organized that will make this much easier overall, plus I always feel better when things are in some sort of order.

Iā€™m working hard to focus on me and what I can do for present and future self, and this also includes fitness. I really want to make sure I get to the gym more and/or work out at home more as thereā€™s no excuses with the time that we have. I want to be more toned and fit and the only way to improve that is to start working on it.

On that note Iā€™m gonna get myself out of this bed and Iā€™m going to do some stretching before I head off to work.