tigertubagirl

Poster in the gym at work. There’s nothing like working...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:35:47 -0500

Poster in the gym at work.

There’s nothing like working out with a bunch of special agents to make a girl feel like A) the world’s biggest badass or B) the world’s biggest weakling. Alas, I fit squarely into category B… but hey, I’m a badass for getting in there, anyway. Go me! 45 mins of weight training to failure. :)

Do Life Challenge, week 1: days 2-6

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:52:48 -0500

Ok so I got really slack about the blogging this week. Maybe that should be a goal for next week?

Stuff I’ve done well:

193 minutes of exercise this week, of which two episodes were weight training to muscle failure (my fave!).

Ate at home (lunch & dinner, took my breakfast from home to work) more often than not; felt like I was eating “cleaner.” I was.

Drank lots of water. LOTS of water.

Lost 2 pounds. Hooray!

Stuff that could improve:

Sleep: I’m still struggling with the sleep thing, and I guess sleep habits are hard to change instantly. Last night I was proud to log 9 hours, though. And I even got up at a reasonable time this morning, woot!

This week, though I exercised 4 of the 6 days, I had planned to exercise 5. It’s still too easy to get distracted and think, “Oh, I can make up for it later.” Ergh.

My biggest challenge is just getting started exercising. I have mild seasonal affective disorder, so the early darkness puts me in a bit of a funk for the winter (I would never survive in Canada. Heck, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t survive north of the Mason-Dixon). I really don’t know that I did something specific - I “just did it.” I basically put on my workout clothes and shoes and was out the door before I could talk myself out of whatever exercise I had planned.

I don’t have a picture of me “rocking it,” but I do have one of my hands after the run in barely 30-degree weather Tuesday night:

I have Raynaud’s (circulation disorder. Read: it was dumb of me to run in the cold). Maybe I’ll stick to just running when it’s a normal temperature outside. I like my fingers where they are.

Do Life Challenge: Day 1

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:37:18 -0500

Today, I lifted weights to muscle exhaustion for 43.2 minutes. I had forgotten how deliciously tired weight training makes me feel. Said weight training should certainly help me get more sleep, one of my 5 goals for this month.

Four things I did well today:

I ate healthy, including two meals I cooked myself (I’m off work today; go figure)
I drank a TON of water (exercise always makes me extra thirsty!)
I went to the gym (and enjoyed it, because I was the ONLY person there. Hooray for gym in the basement of work!)
I brought my herbs inside so they wouldn’t freeze in the snap cold tonight.

Today's the day

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:07:20 -0500

Today’s the day I take my life back. The day I am proactive instead of reactive. The day I decide to take care of myself first and let the rest follow. Happy new year to me (indeed)!

This sums it all up. Life is short; get out there and DO IT. Go....

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:35:00 -0500

This sums it all up. Life is short; get out there and DO IT. Go. Do what you’ve never thought possible.

My favorite parts: “Open your mind, arms, and heart to new things; we are united in our differences,” and “Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them SO GO OUT AND START CREATING.” Amen.

Sometimes, I get a bad case of the can’t-help-its and I wax all nostalgic with a little game of what-if. If I hadn’t done my AFS year, I never would have met half the people I have. I wouldn’t know AFS son #1, Henrique, or AFS son #2, Lucas, both of whom I love dearly. I wouldn’t be a part of an awesome family in France. I wouldn’t speak French. I wouldn’t have worked for a Bavarian company that offered me the opportunity to learn both Spanish and German (and Bavarian!) and meet so many cool people who have made a lasting impact on my life. I wouldn’t have been there to translate for people in dire need of help here in this country or in the foreign countries I like to think of as second homes (France, Germany, Mexico, I’m looking at you!). I wouldn’t have been able to find the jobs I have in a sour economy. I wouldn’t have been mentor/friend/tough-love volunteer to a fantastic and varied group of international exchange students and their host families.

I often wonder what my life would have been without AFS, without having seized an opportunity by filling out that application on a whim. Then, I shudder at the thought and quickly dismiss it. Truly, I can’t imagine this life any other way.