This Week's Reflections

For many of us it’s been the first full week of normality since Christmas. How’re you all getting on with that? I’ve been back to work and back to school. I’m on week 10 of 16 of my Nutrition for Weight Management course, half way through my case study and I started a 2 week course on Exercise for Weight Loss on Monday. I need to set aside some time to knuckle down for a couple of hours but generally feeling on top of it all.

The week got off to a fun start as I took part in the Women’s Running Great Debate. That was a lot of fun I can tell you, discussing running kit with three other lovely ladies. I think my group will be in the April edition which will be out in March. Still nervously awaiting the copy for review!

I’m not doing too badly with my new year’s goals so far. I’ve not had a protein shake everyday but I’ve tried a few new recipes and I have been doing my daily stretches. I’m taking part in 100 Happy Days and I’ve done a fair amount of decluttering; a bag of clothes went out for charity collection today, I dropped a bag of odds and ends at Oxfam last weekend and I have a package to send to A Mile In Her Shoes.

Good looking kit is definitely a motivator for me, but only as long as it's functional too.

I’ve been battling with getting back on the exercise waggon despite my enthusiasm. I wussed out of parkrun last Saturday because of the rain in favour of a gym session but failed to do anything of significance on Sunday once a proposed climbing session was shelved in favour of a lie in and brunch… it was an excellent brunch! I’ve been beating myself up about not running. Somehow I feel as though a week of exercise isn’t complete without a run so that’s what I made myself do this morning and I am doing a new-to-me parkrun tomorrow COME WHAT MAY! In addition, a gym session, Group Kick class and two mornings of sun salutations mean I have done *something* every day this week so far but I need to do more to combat all the meals out I’ve had this week (4 in the last 7 days - yikes).  

Thankfully the energy levels have been a lot higher recently. The iron tablets I’ve been taking seem to agree with me and are taking effect. That and I’ve been stuffed full of broccoli, spinach and other leafy greens. I had another blood test and review this week which revealed the iron levels are creeping back up but the B12 levels are crashing. The doctor advises I keep doing what I’m doing and have another review in a couple of months. Fingers crossed it’s all evening out.

Do any of you use the NTC app on the phone for workouts? I had my first experience of it last week and I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be using it more. It was easy to follow with demonstrations of all the exercises, timely count downs and the ability to use my own playlists.  Do you have any other suggestions for good apps and videos to use for home workouts, to make them a bit more interesting? I’m working my way through the Zero Calorie Advent Calendar videos but it’s always nice to have options.

100 Happy Days

“We live in times when super-busy schedules have become something to boast about. While the speed of life increases, there is less and less time to enjoy the moment that you are in. The ability to appreciate the moment, the environment and yourself in it, is the base for the bridge towards long term happiness of any human being”.

This is the block of text at the top of the 100 Happy Days website. 100 Happy Days is a project which encourages you to stop and smell the roses, appreciate the moment, think about enjoying what you’re doing, rather than just whizzing along from one thing to the next. The idea is simple. Sign up on the website, then submit a picture everyday of what made you happy to twitter, facebook, instagram or email (if you don’t want to make it public), tagged with #100HappyDays.

I found out about the project via twitter and signed up there and then. I love stuff like this. I write a diary, I reflect on things, I like playing the “three things that were good about today” game; this is just an extension of that. I’ve already lost track of how many days I’ve been doing this (I think I’m on day 6… 7?) but I am really enjoying it and I’m already seeing patterns. It’s come as no surprise that food makes me happy, as do my close friends and family and books. This could be quite a revealing exercise, not only about what makes me happy but the way I think about happiness. January can be a bit mournful and blue so finding good things about each day is quite helpful and puts you in a positive mindset.

Chocolate and candy cane covered pretzel, given to me by a colleague I didn't know on a Very Bad Day at work.

But it’s not always easy. I’ve found myself feeling too embarrassed to take pictures sometimes, or thinking that it would make a really uninteresting picture or not really capture why it made me happy. I scrabbled around on one day to find something to take a picture of that related, vaguely, to the day I’d had in order to make the midnight deadline and I wished I’d been brave and taken the photo I wanted to during the day.

The website seems to suggest that at the end of the 100 days you can receive a little 100 page book with your 100 happy days but I’m not sure how that works yet or what it costs. It’s a lovely idea though.

Book! Oh how I love books. This was my unread stack a couple of days ago (excluding hardbacks which are elsewhere). I've since shortened it by one.

I encourage you to sign up to this or carry out your own project, whether it be finding something that makes you happy each day or maybe writing down 5 things you’re grateful for at the end of each week. If you’re happy to share I’d love to hear about it.