Jan. 31st, 2011 10:32 am
Testing, testing
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aphrodite_mineIt's official. Today is the last day of January, which means that tomorrow is a new Health Month. (It's also a new month in general, but that's not what I'm here to write about, now is it?). Depending on who (and which news station) you ask, it's either time for snowpokalypse 2011 part deux or business as usual. I figure, if it's cold it might as well snow.
I started using healthmonth.com during January of this year, the middle of the month. And though I didn't get the full benefits of running the gauntlet, I learned a few things, simply from turning my eyes inward, and noting behaviors.
Some things are really easy for me to do, if I have a simple accountability in place. Without someone (or in this case, some thing) checking on me daily to see if I had taken my medicine, I let this go for days, weeks, months at a time. HM was an easy reminder, and yes, self, there IS a difference.
As for my goal to stay away from all soda and all caffeine, I may have skirted the edges a few times on a technicality ("This tea is 95% caffeine free!" "Natural caffeine doesn't count!") and by the end I was really starting to crave carbonation, but too lazy to remember to get carbonated flavored water when I went to the store. I may have stared longingly into my roommate's collection of half-empty soda cans ("She won't notice if I take a sip...") and I may have hesitated a few times at the drink selection counter when getting fast food... but I did it. And I feel good. I don't like myself on caffeine. I've had some natural highs this month (oh, have I!) and natural lows, but nothing induced by a substance (okay, that's a lie. There was drinking. Two nights?).
And that brings me to my final goal for January: exercise. Those of you who already follow me know that I am deep into roller derby here. But, right in the season when our practices should be picking up for the barrage of upcoming games, our practice/game space is booked up with basketball. It's been... very hard to stay motivated on my own. Every day, I can feel my body lose it's toning. The meager workout I can provide myself (I am motivated by other people, and the culture, and... god, being on skates!) is frustrating. The answer of course, is to do more, daily, to catch myself up, to make up practices. Which would be easy if everything in me were on my side. Even with medication, an 8 hour work day is just about my limit.
I'm looking forward to seeing, in the next month, how much I can push myself, and how I can make these practices stick.
I started using healthmonth.com during January of this year, the middle of the month. And though I didn't get the full benefits of running the gauntlet, I learned a few things, simply from turning my eyes inward, and noting behaviors.
Some things are really easy for me to do, if I have a simple accountability in place. Without someone (or in this case, some thing) checking on me daily to see if I had taken my medicine, I let this go for days, weeks, months at a time. HM was an easy reminder, and yes, self, there IS a difference.
As for my goal to stay away from all soda and all caffeine, I may have skirted the edges a few times on a technicality ("This tea is 95% caffeine free!" "Natural caffeine doesn't count!") and by the end I was really starting to crave carbonation, but too lazy to remember to get carbonated flavored water when I went to the store. I may have stared longingly into my roommate's collection of half-empty soda cans ("She won't notice if I take a sip...") and I may have hesitated a few times at the drink selection counter when getting fast food... but I did it. And I feel good. I don't like myself on caffeine. I've had some natural highs this month (oh, have I!) and natural lows, but nothing induced by a substance (okay, that's a lie. There was drinking. Two nights?).
And that brings me to my final goal for January: exercise. Those of you who already follow me know that I am deep into roller derby here. But, right in the season when our practices should be picking up for the barrage of upcoming games, our practice/game space is booked up with basketball. It's been... very hard to stay motivated on my own. Every day, I can feel my body lose it's toning. The meager workout I can provide myself (I am motivated by other people, and the culture, and... god, being on skates!) is frustrating. The answer of course, is to do more, daily, to catch myself up, to make up practices. Which would be easy if everything in me were on my side. Even with medication, an 8 hour work day is just about my limit.
I'm looking forward to seeing, in the next month, how much I can push myself, and how I can make these practices stick.