I saw this on the Nanowrimo forums and I thought I would make one of my own here, so I have a place to keep it. My BIG, FUN, SCARY List of thing to do. Now, I know it's getting on towards 2014, but I don't want this to be a list of resolutions. I don't want this to be just one more list of things that I will "try" to do, but a list of things I plan on actually doing, things I can set in motion, make plans for, make a goal for and just.. you know.. be awesome at! Nanowrimo is sort of the end of the year for me and the beginning of being motivated. If I can write 50,000 words in one month on one story (and not even finish it, but it is there, in a file, waiting to be opened on Martin Luther King Jr. Day where my Writing Monster can cry out "Free at Last" since I have put her away for 6 weeks to let my writing ideas simmer and see what comes to fruition), I can do just about anything I really set my mind to, as long as I break it into smaller chunks.
See, that's the nice thing about Nanowrimo. I took it day by day. I didn't look at 50,000 words and have a panic attack. I looked at 1667 words a day for 30 days. So I can't look at the nearly 200 pounds I have to lose as 200 pounds (and believe me, that's a lot of butter!), I can just take it a pound at a time (probably by not eating pounds of butter).
However, this list, this BFS list, is the beginning of the lists, the start, the "Where do I go from here" of lists that may look BIG and SCARY, but will also, ultimately be FUN too! So, while this list may be a list of BIG things, (though maybe not quite yet a BIG list, I do plan on adding stuff to it), all of these can be broken into smaller, achievable, day by day every day I try this and it works for me goal list. A list of "I can do it" not.. "I want to do it!"
So, here's my list (in no particular order)
1. Finish my pink and brown quilt that I've been working on since before my divorce.
2. Track my calories and exercise daily.
3. Exercise daily.
4. Record weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and exercise in a chart so I can see my progress.
5. Write an outline for each of the three (so far) books that are in my San Francisco Friends novels.
6. Rewrite/Edit one novel into a publishable draft by August.
7. Work hard and be an awesome teacher!
8. Help my district and my school transition to Common Core Standards and be a great on-campus leader!
9. Help my adorable, loving, wonderful husband get through the next year of college!
10. Complete the next 12 weeks cycle of Julia Cameron's 'The Artist's Way'.
11. Meditate every day.
So, those are things I can do! Let's get crackin'!
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Episode 77: 60 days
60 days ago, AM challenged me to a walking challenge. Today, I have completed the challenge. Because I messed up my knee (something about bursitis), my doctor recommended that I walk for 20 minutes a day, as just light exercise to get the knee going and work out some of the muscles. AM said that if we created a routine, a daily regime of walking, I could buy myself one small fitness item that will help me continue to get healthier. That item is a FitBit.
I have been trying to track my steps, exercise and diet on my phone, but I am beginning to find that it drains my battery pretty quickly and it's not really all that constant. I have to have the phone with me, it can't be on the charger, if I want to track the steps that I take. While they have apps for it, there are no really good apps to track your sleep patterns and sleep quality. The Fitbit promises to do all that. It's a gadgety thing that goes in a wristband that you keep on you at all times and tracks everything you do and then syncs wirelessly to your phone or computer or whatever to help you track. And I get this neat little gadget probably tomorrow (if I can find money in my budget for it) because I kept a goal and I stuck to it for 60 days.
They say that it takes 27 times of doing something in the same way to create a habit. 60 seems excessive, but it works for me. I feel wrong if I don't do my walking every night now. In the last 60 days, I have walked. Sometimes I walked during the morning, sometimes I walked in the evenings. Sometimes, after coming home from gaming or a movie or just hanging out with our friends, we have walked past midnight. The track that we take is simply around our apartment complex, two laps, which equals roughly between 2/5 and 1/2 a mile. I didn't always walk in the apartment complex. Sometimes on rainy days I would walk the same approximate distance twice around the grocery store from the produce section to the bakery section and back. Most of my random zombie walks down to the market and back counted for my walk for the day. Some days I exceeded my half mile by a lot, and sometimes I barely made it, either because of injury or illness (when you can't breathe for coughing, it may not be the best time to walk). But I made it.
I finished my challenge tonight with one last walk past the mostly brightly lit windows around the apartment complex. Inside, families and friends were going about their business, most of them watching television, or gathered in some other fashion. Some were using computers, and some were cooking a late meal. Over the last 60 days, I have gotten to know some of these people. The gentleman in the balcony on the opposite building always smiles and tells us to have a nice evening. A young mother yesterday told us that she felt it was a strange day when she didn't get a chance to say hello to us. Though we don't know names, only faces and location, our walks have helped us get to know our neighbors and our neighborhood better.
My next challenge is not to end the walks, but to continue them and add some more to them. Another lap perhaps, or some weight training that my doctor recommends for weight loss. Perhaps I will do both, but I know that I can create and maintain a habit for 60 days, and I plan on making more plans to become even healthier.
What do you plan to do with the next 60 days?
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
I have been trying to track my steps, exercise and diet on my phone, but I am beginning to find that it drains my battery pretty quickly and it's not really all that constant. I have to have the phone with me, it can't be on the charger, if I want to track the steps that I take. While they have apps for it, there are no really good apps to track your sleep patterns and sleep quality. The Fitbit promises to do all that. It's a gadgety thing that goes in a wristband that you keep on you at all times and tracks everything you do and then syncs wirelessly to your phone or computer or whatever to help you track. And I get this neat little gadget probably tomorrow (if I can find money in my budget for it) because I kept a goal and I stuck to it for 60 days.
They say that it takes 27 times of doing something in the same way to create a habit. 60 seems excessive, but it works for me. I feel wrong if I don't do my walking every night now. In the last 60 days, I have walked. Sometimes I walked during the morning, sometimes I walked in the evenings. Sometimes, after coming home from gaming or a movie or just hanging out with our friends, we have walked past midnight. The track that we take is simply around our apartment complex, two laps, which equals roughly between 2/5 and 1/2 a mile. I didn't always walk in the apartment complex. Sometimes on rainy days I would walk the same approximate distance twice around the grocery store from the produce section to the bakery section and back. Most of my random zombie walks down to the market and back counted for my walk for the day. Some days I exceeded my half mile by a lot, and sometimes I barely made it, either because of injury or illness (when you can't breathe for coughing, it may not be the best time to walk). But I made it.
I finished my challenge tonight with one last walk past the mostly brightly lit windows around the apartment complex. Inside, families and friends were going about their business, most of them watching television, or gathered in some other fashion. Some were using computers, and some were cooking a late meal. Over the last 60 days, I have gotten to know some of these people. The gentleman in the balcony on the opposite building always smiles and tells us to have a nice evening. A young mother yesterday told us that she felt it was a strange day when she didn't get a chance to say hello to us. Though we don't know names, only faces and location, our walks have helped us get to know our neighbors and our neighborhood better.
My next challenge is not to end the walks, but to continue them and add some more to them. Another lap perhaps, or some weight training that my doctor recommends for weight loss. Perhaps I will do both, but I know that I can create and maintain a habit for 60 days, and I plan on making more plans to become even healthier.
What do you plan to do with the next 60 days?
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Friday, May 3, 2013
Episode 73: Motivation
The stuffing of me into the dress motivates me to take the challenge I am on a bit more seriously. Tonight's dinner at the Black Bear Diner not withstanding, I need to get more serious about weight loss so that I can look even more stunning in this fabulous dress. I need to find back and arm exercises that will help me work away some of that fat back there and make it so that the dress just slips on and laces up without me feeling like I am being put into a corset. This motivates me more than anything else right now. My hot pink Converse go great with it and are totally me, peeking out from under the dress as I walk (I have to get the hem picked up a bit so I can wear the shoes rather than wear high heels).
Motivation comes from many places. My motivation is one of the more commonplace ones. Many women say "I want to look better on my wedding day". Some people want to do it so that they can spend more time with their kids. Some just want to be healthier and some want the challenge of doing something that they never thought that they would do before. I have friends, TG and KT, who do 5k runs and nearly marathon pace running. I am inspired by them, but my motivation comes from myself. Most motivation must be internally driven, not externally. If you want to do something, find your own reasons, and whatever reasons they are, and make them yours. Make the challenge yours. Because if it doesn't come from inside you, if it doesn't come from somewhere internal where that little voice is crying out to tell you that you <b>can</b> be a better person, then it isn't the right motivation for you. Doing things for other people never helps anybody.
I should get one of those shirts that say "Team Bride" on them and wear it to Curves and sweat up a storm.. it can be part of my workout outfit. I"m off to search Amazon and ThinkGeek! I hope you all find whatever motivates you to greatness, because I think you are all great!
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Episode 56: Rebirth
Hi!
I know, I haven't been around much lately. When you're living a life of this much bliss, you can't be bothered to do much blogging, I suppose. Well, mostly bliss anyway. Things are good... for the most part.
Except my weight.
I seem to have reached some sort of plateau. I'm not really losing weight, but I'm not gaining too much weight either. I rubber band around mffmmm and mffmm, gaining or losing about 2 or 3 pounds every time I weigh in.
This needs to stop.
So, Easter is coming up. I don't celebrate it, as I have a tiny little hitch in my whole stance of belief and religion. That being said, Easter is an interesting time. It is a time when the Christian world celebrates the rebirth of their god with stolen pagan rituals. But it's that word, that term rebirth that gets me thinking.
Once a year, most of the world (about a third, really.. 2.2 billion, according to Wikipedia) reflect on rebirth once a year. Their God is reborn after three days. I think I'll take a cue from them, and consider my own bit of rebirth.
I need to get back on track. I need to be counting points, spending time exercising. Recently, AM and I went to Japantown in San Francisco and did about 5 hours (conservative estimate) of walking. We actually stayed for 6 and a half hours, but I'm giving us an hour an a half for the times we sat down to eat, write, talk, enjoy each other's company. We had a really great time just hanging out and engulfing ourselves in the two malls that surround the Japanese Peace Plaza. (If you're my friend on Facebook, I will post some pictures). We hung out at MaiDo, we strolled around, we had lunch at Mifuna (I could be wrong on the name), and altogether it was wonderful! And we walked so much!!
And when we got home... we felt it! I don't exercise much, and my body screamed in the only way that it could that I need to do walking more often. Maybe not 5 hours in one day, but a half an hour - maybe an hour a day - may not be the worst thing for my system. So, part of my rebirth will be walking, even if it is just walking daily down to the market to pick up a little bit of groceries for dinner.
Since... well, let's say since January... I haven't been big on meal planning and counting points. Those things get in the way when you have a Nubi (good frozen yogurt) just down the street from you. Those things get in the way when you are suddenly rediscovering that the city that you live in has wonderful cuisines that you have never tried before (like the Greek cuisine I had never noticed in Stockton before.. and the Vietnamese.. and the tiny Italian places). Those things get in the way when you start focusing on work and grading and really teaching lessons that make your students thing. Counting points and calories hasn't been much on my priority list.
But they need to be. I don't want to live forever, but I don't want to die early either. If I stay at my current weight and my current eating pattern (high sodium, fat and sugar content) I will develop some serious illnesses. I am already on the path to diabetes and I already have to take a slough of medications for high blood pressure. My asthma has begun to kick up again and my back has thrown in its screaming pain along with all of the else that is going on. If I want to be healthier and happier, I have to stick to a diet rich in foods that are healthy for me. (I hate the word diet. It implies something temporary to me in a way that is like "With this 8 week diet, you'll lose 50 pounds!" which never really works out because these diet plans are ridiculous starvation acts that deprive your body of healthy nutrients and carbohydrates that your brain and other organs need to function! Diet for me means "the way I eat every day.") Counting points and making sure that I check off all of the items on that healthy eating list are important for me. AM and I have littered our apartment with whiteboards and reminder notebooks. It is time I used them.
The last part of my rebirth is my blog. I need to start blogging again. I meant it to be a record of my journey, perhaps a way for me to express myself that will give other people hope, ideas and the occasional recipe or healthy hint that they can take away from it. I honestly don't really expect very many people to read it, but I enjoy writing it and sharing my life with my family and friends, who I have been spending a lot more time with lately. I need to get back onto a nearly daily updating routine. Maybe a "just before bedtime" bit of writing, just to check in. Maybe a quick 15 minute "this is my motivation for today' writing in the mornings. All I know is that I need to get back to it. This is (mostly) for me.
I have been lax, and inherent in that laziness has been the weight that I have gained and the lack of exercise and good eating. I am a responsible adult. I have the tools I need to succeed. Now I need to use them.
Hoping that you find your own rebirth this weekend,
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
I know, I haven't been around much lately. When you're living a life of this much bliss, you can't be bothered to do much blogging, I suppose. Well, mostly bliss anyway. Things are good... for the most part.
Except my weight.
I seem to have reached some sort of plateau. I'm not really losing weight, but I'm not gaining too much weight either. I rubber band around mffmmm and mffmm, gaining or losing about 2 or 3 pounds every time I weigh in.
This needs to stop.
So, Easter is coming up. I don't celebrate it, as I have a tiny little hitch in my whole stance of belief and religion. That being said, Easter is an interesting time. It is a time when the Christian world celebrates the rebirth of their god with stolen pagan rituals. But it's that word, that term rebirth that gets me thinking.
Once a year, most of the world (about a third, really.. 2.2 billion, according to Wikipedia) reflect on rebirth once a year. Their God is reborn after three days. I think I'll take a cue from them, and consider my own bit of rebirth.
I need to get back on track. I need to be counting points, spending time exercising. Recently, AM and I went to Japantown in San Francisco and did about 5 hours (conservative estimate) of walking. We actually stayed for 6 and a half hours, but I'm giving us an hour an a half for the times we sat down to eat, write, talk, enjoy each other's company. We had a really great time just hanging out and engulfing ourselves in the two malls that surround the Japanese Peace Plaza. (If you're my friend on Facebook, I will post some pictures). We hung out at MaiDo, we strolled around, we had lunch at Mifuna (I could be wrong on the name), and altogether it was wonderful! And we walked so much!!
And when we got home... we felt it! I don't exercise much, and my body screamed in the only way that it could that I need to do walking more often. Maybe not 5 hours in one day, but a half an hour - maybe an hour a day - may not be the worst thing for my system. So, part of my rebirth will be walking, even if it is just walking daily down to the market to pick up a little bit of groceries for dinner.
Since... well, let's say since January... I haven't been big on meal planning and counting points. Those things get in the way when you have a Nubi (good frozen yogurt) just down the street from you. Those things get in the way when you are suddenly rediscovering that the city that you live in has wonderful cuisines that you have never tried before (like the Greek cuisine I had never noticed in Stockton before.. and the Vietnamese.. and the tiny Italian places). Those things get in the way when you start focusing on work and grading and really teaching lessons that make your students thing. Counting points and calories hasn't been much on my priority list.
But they need to be. I don't want to live forever, but I don't want to die early either. If I stay at my current weight and my current eating pattern (high sodium, fat and sugar content) I will develop some serious illnesses. I am already on the path to diabetes and I already have to take a slough of medications for high blood pressure. My asthma has begun to kick up again and my back has thrown in its screaming pain along with all of the else that is going on. If I want to be healthier and happier, I have to stick to a diet rich in foods that are healthy for me. (I hate the word diet. It implies something temporary to me in a way that is like "With this 8 week diet, you'll lose 50 pounds!" which never really works out because these diet plans are ridiculous starvation acts that deprive your body of healthy nutrients and carbohydrates that your brain and other organs need to function! Diet for me means "the way I eat every day.") Counting points and making sure that I check off all of the items on that healthy eating list are important for me. AM and I have littered our apartment with whiteboards and reminder notebooks. It is time I used them.
The last part of my rebirth is my blog. I need to start blogging again. I meant it to be a record of my journey, perhaps a way for me to express myself that will give other people hope, ideas and the occasional recipe or healthy hint that they can take away from it. I honestly don't really expect very many people to read it, but I enjoy writing it and sharing my life with my family and friends, who I have been spending a lot more time with lately. I need to get back onto a nearly daily updating routine. Maybe a "just before bedtime" bit of writing, just to check in. Maybe a quick 15 minute "this is my motivation for today' writing in the mornings. All I know is that I need to get back to it. This is (mostly) for me.
I have been lax, and inherent in that laziness has been the weight that I have gained and the lack of exercise and good eating. I am a responsible adult. I have the tools I need to succeed. Now I need to use them.
Hoping that you find your own rebirth this weekend,
Love and Lollipops,
ToryLynn
Monday, October 10, 2011
Episode 18: Here I go again...
OK, so, after a 2 week break, and a weekend of not blogging, or keeping track of much of my food and stuff, I am back. I am back because I need to work on myself and this seems to be the only way that it happens, if I am beholden to a large group of people who follow. I am back because truly I am exhausted with myself and that my weight seems to be holding me back from so much. I need to really work out this change.
I have two alarm clocks. One of them is on my phone and the other is an actual physical alarm clock. My phone is using an app called "Gentle Alarm" which is supposed to work with your circadian rhythms and if you happen to be waking up a half an hour earlier than your regular alarm clock, coming out of that deep REM cycle where exhaustion lies, Gentle Alarm nudges you during that time and reminds you that you should probably be getting up soon, as that sleep cycle is done. If you happen to be in deep REM sleep at that time, you simply ignore whatever sound the alarm plays and continue to sleep for another half an hour. Today, REM was not in my favor and I woke up at 4:30 instead of 4. My "get the hell out of bed, you can't snooze me!" alarm is set for 5 and resides across my bedroom from where I normally sleep. This alarm affords me an hour or so before I have to go to work, wherein I hope to complete my daily ablutions, have coffee, confirm my lesson plans for the day and and get ready for work.
So, rather than develop this as an evening habit after I put in my points and review my day, I am hoping to make this a morning habit, where I motivate myself (and perhaps my friends and family around me) to lose weight and get healthier. I know I can use the motivation. I gained .2 pounds this week. It's not a huge gain, and it could probably be water weight or just regular body fluctuations, but I really want to see the little minus signs before the numbers instead of after them.
So, new schedule has to be set. It is time for me to grow up and take over my life.. because nobody else is going to do it for me.
Love to all who support and follow me. This is going to be a great day!
ToryLynn
I have two alarm clocks. One of them is on my phone and the other is an actual physical alarm clock. My phone is using an app called "Gentle Alarm" which is supposed to work with your circadian rhythms and if you happen to be waking up a half an hour earlier than your regular alarm clock, coming out of that deep REM cycle where exhaustion lies, Gentle Alarm nudges you during that time and reminds you that you should probably be getting up soon, as that sleep cycle is done. If you happen to be in deep REM sleep at that time, you simply ignore whatever sound the alarm plays and continue to sleep for another half an hour. Today, REM was not in my favor and I woke up at 4:30 instead of 4. My "get the hell out of bed, you can't snooze me!" alarm is set for 5 and resides across my bedroom from where I normally sleep. This alarm affords me an hour or so before I have to go to work, wherein I hope to complete my daily ablutions, have coffee, confirm my lesson plans for the day and and get ready for work.
So, rather than develop this as an evening habit after I put in my points and review my day, I am hoping to make this a morning habit, where I motivate myself (and perhaps my friends and family around me) to lose weight and get healthier. I know I can use the motivation. I gained .2 pounds this week. It's not a huge gain, and it could probably be water weight or just regular body fluctuations, but I really want to see the little minus signs before the numbers instead of after them.
So, new schedule has to be set. It is time for me to grow up and take over my life.. because nobody else is going to do it for me.
Love to all who support and follow me. This is going to be a great day!
ToryLynn
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Episode 13: The Post that Wasn't
My apologies to my audience that this didn't get posted last night. I stayed up late talking to a friend and nearly fell asleep on the computer. I postponed this posting until this morning, so here I am, blurry eyed and droopy tailed saying good morning! :) (Puck, who decided that my normal work schedule wake up call at 5:30 was exactly what I needed, says hi too!)
I am beginning to struggle. It's not just that I forget to eat, which I have been having a problem with doing lately. I'm not actually getting to my point total that is supposed to be my minimum. I am sort of finding it difficult to remember to record what little I do eat. My meals have been healthy, and I have been trying to create healthy choices of food around me. My refrigerator is full of healthy vegetables and my fruit basket is nearly over-flowing (bet you didn't know I already owned a fruit basket!) I am just not eating as much as I probably should, according to the plan. I think my friend last night called it "weight watcher's lethargy". I thought that was a good term.
As I head into my weigh in for week two.. and my third week of blog posts (if I do 7 more,I will have created a good habit.. and I will do one tonight, for I will have much to report), I wonder what things I can do to motivate myself to push past this lethargy barrier.
One of my motivations is my friends and family who love me. I have found that I have such an amazing support circle that wants me to succeed that I almost feel like I am letting them down if I don't. I even had my sister and my brother's fiance post on my Facebook wall a reminder that I needed to blog. I love that sort of motivation and caring from people who actually pay attention to what I do.
Another motivation, which sounds weird, is my Second Life. My avatar in that world is thin and gorgeous, and I would love to look and move like she does. I would love for people to perceive me in that way (though I admit, the tail and ears will have to stay in Second Life) as it gives me so much confidence to do things I would have never done in this body. I host poetry shows, I go to writing collectives and I run a short story discussion group with a close friend of mine. I watch my avatar do all of these things, and want the woman who lives behind the screen to be just as hot and talented as the person that I see on the screen.
My last motivation is a sudden fervor for life that I haven't felt in a long time. I am ecstatic to be alive right now, which is something I couldn't have said a few years ago, when I was wallowing in a depression. Today, right now, I am happy to be breathing in air, filling my lungs with oxygen and just simply existing. Everything looks different through my eyes lately, and I am loving just being alive. The wonderment of the sunset, the way the wind blows through my willow tree outside, the friends and family who love me more than I could ever imagine- these are the things that make my life worth living.
But for now... I'm going back to sleep :)
Thank you to all who read this, and to all who love me. Your support means more to me than anything.
ToryLynn
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