To really help you understand why I am going to challenge myself to make some changes in my own life I need to tell you what happened to bring me to this point. This is something I very rarely talk about so please bare with me as this is very difficult for me to talk about.
Last spring my father was diagnosed with cancer, when they found it he was already in the end stages, it had spread all over his body already and the outlook for him was very grim. He could have left the doctors office that day and gone straight on to Hospice, the doctor honestly figured he had about 2 months. My dad wanted to fight it and he gave it his all, he radically changed his diet and he started exercising more (he already exercised a fair bit more than most people) and he found the best doctors he could to treat him. He also made sure to live, he enjoyed the time he had left. He took his family which included 2 grandchildren at the time to the Magic Kingdom and on a cruise through Alaska's inside passage, he road tripped with his brother and just enjoyed himself. He died about 6 months after his diagnosis, but almost all of that 6 months were good days for him where he got to enjoy his life.
The other week marked 1 year since he passed away and I still have a difficult time dealing with my loss as my father and I were very close. It is also particularly difficult for me because several years earlier his sister lost her own fight with cancer so of course I am concerned about my own health. I have a 3 year old son and a wonderful husband whom I hope to be around for for a very long time.
Now that you understand why I want to make some changes in my life we can can talk about what changes I want to make in my life. I have been changing thins slowly already, trying to eat in more and to make a point of all of us sitting down to eat our meals together. I have also lost some weight this past year, while all these changes are great I just feel like my approach has been too passive. I don't have specific goals set for myself, my goals have just been very vague and while there is nothing wrong with simply looking at the end of a year and seeing that you lost a few pounds and being happy about it I feel that maybe if I give myself more concrete small challenges that I can achieve more.
Now is the time I got to start thinking about what I want to achieve, what changes I want to make in my life, what is important to me. I know I want to lose some more weight and get in better shape, I know I want to eat healthier, I know I want my family to spend time together and be close to each other. So now that I have identified what my very general goals are I can set out to make specific one month goals that will move me towards the changes I want to see happen in my own life.
General goal #1: To lose some more weight and get in better shape -
I currently weigh approximately 20 pounds more than I did when I graduated high school. I have had 2 back surgeries and after each one I kind of leveled off 10 pounds heavier than before the surgery. I know this isn't a lot of weight and it isn't a huge deal to me other than the fact that for someone with a bad back extra weight adds a lot of extra strain to the back and mine has been fused at L5-S1 thereby weakening the disk area directly above and directly below the point of fusion. I have never stopped having back pain, but it hasn't been bad enough to have to go in for additional surgery either. My desire here is to relieve some of the extra pressure that my back is under and hopefully in doing so also reduce the amount of pain I deal with and as an added bonus maybe feel a little better about my body too.
General goal #2: To eat healthier -
Considering my family history with cancer I feel like eating healthier is something that I really need to do, not that I live at the drive through eating burgers and milkshakes or anything like that. Most of us could stand to eat a more balanced diet, to eat more fruits and vegetables, to eat more meals that just popped in the microwave or oven to heat up.
General goal #3: Spend more time together as a family and be close to each other -
After my father was diagnosed with cancer I found myself calling him most days instead of mots weeks and I flew out to see him every 2 months or so as opposed to every year or so. I know it is normal to put extra effort into our relationships when people are sick and dying, but it made me wonder why people wait until someone is dying to spend time with them? Why don't we actively work on our relationships with those we love on a regular basis? Why do we tell ourselves that we will go visit them later? It is so easy to put things off till later and then before we know it it is too late.
Now onto my first monthly challenge, I realize that it is the middle of the month right now so that may not seem like a good time to some of you to make a commitment to a monthly challenge but I think it is the perfect time because this allows some time to plan for that first monthly challenge. For the month of November my challenge is to exercise at least 4 days a week.
The terms:
1. I will exercise for at least 30 minutes each day on at least 4 days of each calendar week. My week will start on Sunday morning and end on Saturday evening.
2. What counts as exercise? Pretty much anything: walking, yoga, running, WiiFit, WiiSports, etc. The point of this is just to put more physical activity into my daily life. Even a 5 minute walk counts towards that daily goal of 30 minutes, so even an after dinner walk with the family counts!
3. I will write a blog post everyday to keep myself motivated and I will also write what prevented me from actually getting at least 30 minutes of exercise in on days I don't meet that goal.
Please feel free to join me in the month of November on my fitness challenge or feel free to start your own challenge. Also, feel free to track your own progress by commenting on my blog each day if you would like to. Remember sometimes the added accountability helps us stick with things and I would really love to hear about your own challenges and how they are going.
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