Photo courtesy Stephen G. Berry
Last week, a friend suggested going out for New Year’s Eve. I will probably stay in, but it started me thinking about if I did go, what I would wear. I decided I would want to wear the little black dress I wore for my best friend’s wedding reception a couple summers ago. Problem is, I’m a good ten pounds heavier and I don’t know if it would even fit right.
I’ve been really struggling with the weight thing and getting myself to exercise as much as I should.
And then there’s the writing. Thirty-two thousand words and I stopped. I got stuck. I decided to go back and edit and rewrite and meet my goal of finishing the novel by the end of the month. But I ended up just getting stuck and it’s going nowhere and there’s no way that’s going to happen.
I haven’t been writing anything. Not my novel. Not short stories. Not blog posts. Not even journal entries.
What I do is lay on my couch and watch television, even if there’s nothing on I actually care about.
This has to stop.
I decided a couple days ago to try to actually get through the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred DVD (it’s a circuit training workout that has three levels — the idea being to do each level for ten days in a row and complete the DVD in thirty days). I’ve done this DVD before, but I usually get bored and quit long before I reach day thirty.
So far, I did day one and was so sore on day two that I couldn’t continue, so I’m going to have to start over. But that’s OK. At least I started. And while I didn’t Shred on day two, I did go for a run. I’m on a bit of a roll with that now and I will hopefully keep it going.
Yesterday, I decided enough is enough in general and it’s time to really think about starting a new year with a new perspective and new habits. I decided to severely limit TV time. My first thought was no TV at all, but there are a couple shows and some movies that actually inspire me to creativity and I really enjoy them, so I will allow that. It’s only a couple hours a week. And I can watch if I use my elliptical. But no more mindless staring at the television not really watching anything at all. I’m not even going to turn it on in the morning while I get ready for work.
Instead, I’m going to use this month to work on my mind and body. I’m going to work hard at getting into better physical shape. I’m going to read (books, magazines, newspapers, whatever), I’m going to work out and I’m going to write — even if that means staring at a blank page for hours on end until something comes to me, instead of distracting myself with message boards and Facebook. And I might even finally start trying out new recipes and making my own bread.
Jillian Michaels is a sadist. i’m serious. she’s a sadist.
Perhaps. But it’s a great workout.
me too! You are inspiring me to kick it up a notch too! xoxo
Getting outside is a plus. Do you have a dog ? Dogs are great motivation to get outside, even on nasty days.
I don’t understand why they don’t sell exercise machines that power TVs. We’d watch less TV and be far fitter !
Now. Off you go. Shoo. Get off the internet and go work on that novel.
Good for you Renee. Remember when I did the 30 day no t.v. challenge? It helped me break the habit and now I only watch dvr shows and watch when it is truly time to sit and relax. I am starting my 6 weeks challenge of no meat today. Sometimes, for me, I need to put a time goal on something challenging. I do hope you get back to writing your book. Writing is your gift and I can not wait to read it. Hopefully you will feel like blogging more, because I love your take on things and look forward to every post. Good luck my friend.
I need to limit my TV time, too. I decided that in the new year, I’m going to make a list of the shows I want to watch each week and then only watch those shows. If it’s not on my list, the TV gets turned off and I have to go find something else to do.
I’m starting in January, though, because there are just all kinds of fun Christmas movies this month.
Get back to that novel!
That sounds awesome!! I’ve fallen into laziness lately, but due to some unknown injury whilst running. Which sucks because we have YET to get snow and so I could have been running on ice free roads all along. Oh well. Taking time off until January and then I’m going to get started. We’ll just have to see how that goes though.
And don’t forget that sometimes you just have to stop and veg. It lets you figure out what’s changed and what’s important now. Sometimes it just reminds you of your motivation for what you were doing in the first place.
Humans are cyclical. It’s normal.
Be well.